All Posts Tagged: Unsubstantiated Rumors

Another classic WSOP Photoshop. Darvin Moon and Creedence, a match made in heaven.

The 2009 WSOP Main Event final table is just days away and PokerListings.com will be in Vegas to bring you all the action live.

Check out our Live 2009 WSOP Coverage starting November 7th to follow it all.

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He didn't think anyone was looking but, as always, we were hidden with the sniper-zoom camera ready to catch it. This was taken during Event 1 at the 2009 World Series of Poker presented by Betfair where Chris Ferguson has made it to the final 27.

It appears that Jesus has remote access to the Full Tilt Poker boomswitch* and, even more surprisingly, that boomswitch somehow works in a live Betfair Poker tournament.

We always knew he was a nit and now we know how he got his superb live tournament track record.

* There is not and never was a boomswitch. If you believed us when we said it please make an appointment with some sort of brain doctor.

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In a stunning move industry mogul Tony G has turned his favorite catch-phrase into a new bicycle shop in London.*

Catering exclusively to Russians G hopes to finally give people the means to follow his timeless advice: "On your bike Russian!"

*No truth whatsoever to this story.




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It's time for the next prediction. Let's go straight to the tape. His name is Steven Begleiter and he goes into the final table 3rd in chips with a healthy stack just under 30 million.

He's humorous and humble. He has no qualms about discussing his many poker failures. That's my kind of player. I can root for that.

Poker is something he does for fun with his "many" friends when he's not coaching soccer or dancing between raindrops in a minefield.

Raindrops? Dancing? Minefield? What? I hope for his sake that he can put aside this odd hobby for at least the next few months. Then, after, when he's making it rain with his millions of dollars he can dance between the drops to his heart's content.

Not sure about the minefield thing though but to each his own. Check out the video we shot with him as things were wrapping up a few weeks ago.



My crystal ball appears confused and sends ambiguous messages. 'Victory' repeats and echoes relentlessly. With confidence it tells me that Steven Begleiter will soon become a Champion.

However, since I took it in to get fixed, this crystal ball has difficulty distinguishing between sporting events. Steven Begleiter will soon be a champion; state regional junior ladies soccer coaching champion. Commendable indeed but lacking the $8.5M payday.

On the felt he's already won, he said so himself. The rest is gravy. He will have fun but will be nervous.

The final table will be a humungous freeroll for Begleiter. It seems he'll be more concerned with performing well for his friends who have a piece of his action rather than for himself - a team player in an individualistic game.

He will play well throughout the session but the lights, the cameras, the glitz, the glam, it will prove too much. One big mistake will cost him but he will go far.

Prediction: He enters 3rd and that is where I predict he finishes.

Steven Begleiter Main Event WSOP 3rd place finisher!

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We'll put this one in the unsubstantiated rumor folder but if there's anything we've learned it's that poker and reality TV go together like Phil Ivey and gambling.

Earlier this week a poster on RealityFanForum.com published a photograph of what appears to be poker players Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle at LAX during an Amazing Race event.

Ho was the last woman to be eliminated in the 2007 WSOP Main Event while Michelle managed the same feat in 2008. Both players are close friends and both have television experience, which might be seen as a bonus by Amazing Race casting directors.

The rumor seems viable considering both players were absent from this year's Main Event and 15th Season of The Amazing Race was scheduled to be filmed over the summer.

Michelle's own Twitter mentioned that she would be gone for at least a month, "filming a big project." The only thing that doesn't seem to add up is that in her most recent Tweet Michelle mentioned that she was enjoying being on a set again. The Amazing Race, it has to be assumed, would not have a set.

We contacted poker agency Suited Connections, of which Michelle is affiliated, but they were unable to comment on the situation.

When contestants compete in The Amazing Race they are sequestered, meaning they have no contact with the outside world until filming is complete.

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Every day at around 2 p.m., play stops at the 2009 World Series of Poker for a special bracelet presentation to honor those who've won events the night before.

The winner is brought up on stage, the bracelet is handed over and his or her national anthem is played.

Typically, the anthem is a staid instrumental arrangement played with very little personality.

For John Kabbaj's ceremony, however, it was the Sex Pistols'"God Save the Queen."

At first, reaction was mostly positive to this refreshing change of pace. Kabbaj and WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack were both seen to be rocking out on stage, fist-pumping and head-banging and generally enjoying the moment.

But then the grumbling started. People started muttering about the ceremony being disrespectful. Kabbaj thought it over and decided he was infuriated.

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The poker world is buzzing with stories and rumors concerning just how much money was on the line when Phil Ivey won his two WSOP bracelets this year.

It's common knowledge he had a standing $200k per bracelet bet with Daniel Negreanu, but other figures much bigger than this have been thrown about.

Finally it seems the actual extent of money on the line may have been revealed! (If you believe Vegas cab drivers.)

Apparently, Phil Ivey spoke to one of Vegas' ubiquitous cabbies and let slip just how much he had riding on that second bracelet.

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We know what you're thinking. Where's Teddy "The Iceman" Monroe been so far this WSOP?

Short answer: He's got his flippy-floppys, and he's on the mother****in' cash-game boat.

Monroe - self-proclaimed no. 1 live tournament player in the world, no. 1 short-stack player in the world and renowned people freezer - said he had some big plans for the WSOP coming in.

But it seems he's been too busy freezin' people at the cash-game tables to make it into many tournaments so far.

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Seth: Schwartz, where have you been, man? You almost gave me a goddamn heart attack. Let me see it. Did you pussy out or what?

Schwartz: No noooo, man. Just been running good in the $10k PLO, taking a massive chip lead into Day 3. But I got it; it is flawless. Check it!

Evan: [examining the fake ID] Hawaii. All right, that's good. That's hard to trace, I guess. Wait ... you changed your name to ... McSchwartz?

Schwartz: Yeah.

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Hang around Vegas a while and you'll hear many tales of luxurious excess, though few can rival this Phil Ivey anecdote we heard moments ago.

Allegedly a group of businessmen were enjoying dinner at the Wynn when they looked over at one of the nearby tables to see none other than Phil Ivey.

Big fans of the poker superstar, they summoned the waiter and asked him to send Ivey a bottle of Cristal champagne, compliments of their table.

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Our own Ronnie Schwartz came up with this one. I agree, this is exactly what it would be like if ElkY's nickname was real.

To give this at least a shred of context, ElkY is leading the $1,500 at the moment.

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In the movie The Devil's Advocate, there's a scene early on where Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves are negotiating a contract on a roof top.

Pacino, as it's revealed, is Satan personified in the form of a successful lawyer named John Milton.

Reeves is a hotshot, undefeated defense attorney from Florida. He doesn't know it, but he's the Devil's son.

No wonder he never lost a case. Yikes.

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Never mess with a hungry Wolfe pack.

On Monday at the WSOP, U.K. poker pro Roland de Wolfe had something to prove. Having finished sans-bracelet for the past three years - despite making a final table each year - de Wolfe finally quelled his hunger with a win in Event 27, $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8-or-Better.

Adding the bracelet to his WPT and EPT victories, de Wolfe is now just the second winner of poker's Triple Crown (Gavin Griffin being the other).

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We never figured the Swedes for knock-off artists. Cheap furniture that's difficult to put together yes, but not knock-offs.

Apparently we were wrong. They've knocked off Allen Iverson.

Meet Alex Ivarsson. Like a Sorny or Panaphonic, the difference is barely noticeable. Personally we can hardly tell the two apart. You be the judge.

Ivarsson, or maybe Iverson, is among the chip leaders in the $2,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event that will play down to a winner later today. We're hoping he takes it down so we can go party with the Detroit Pistons. No wait ...

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Michael DeMichele was such a nice boy when he final tabled the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at last year's WSOP.

This year, the kid from East Haven, Connecticut has shown up with a new badass image complete with visor, scarf and stubble.

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He gives Hevad Khan hot flashes; makes Greg Raymer want to slap him. Jeff Madsen says he's never won a hand against him. Phil Laak guesses he's part telepath.

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The Main Event approacheth, and in light of that, I've started to think about who I'd pick to take it down.

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I hear and read a lot of people talking about how poker's popularity is on the decline. Personally I think that's a silly idea that's fueled by what sort of ratings poker pulls on television.

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Serious poker players need no introduction to Tony Shelton. The barrel-chested man with the gray handlebar mustache has been a fixture in Las Vegas poker rooms for nearly 40 years.

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You've seen the hand on High Stakes Poker: Jamie Gold hits his set of kings on the turn, but the king also fills up Patrik Antonius' straight. It's the biggest pot in the history of the show, $740,000.

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It was a Saturday night short before Christmas. I needed a break in my Bayesian readings. Judgment under uncertainty is really fun; you can never be sure of anything, but you can substantiate your hypothesis and act on it.

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With December upon us, one reporter has been wondering who in the poker world's been good this past year and who's due for a lump of coal in their stocking. Because he's the kind of guy who really does eat, sleep and breathe poker, he shares with us here some inside info he's been made privy to…

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In the game of Roulette, you put all your chips on one number - and if you hit it, you're flying, and if you miss it, you're crying. In the game of the WSOP Main Event Poker Roulette, picking your player is the same game.

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While big name poker pros have garnered more than their fair share of celebrity status in the last few years, the real stars still hail from Hollywood. And even among the biggest names in the game, these show-biz personalities have a magnetism that fans and ESPN cameras alike are unable to resist.

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As far as World Series' go, the 2007 iteration of the WSOP had plenty of defining moments. The best is yet to come, no doubt, with the crowning of the Main Event champion on July 17th, but until that happens poker fans can tide themselves over with the triumphant images of Phil Hellmuth winning his eleventh bracelet and of Allen Cunningham and Erik Seidel solidifying their places among poker's elite.

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