Hello everyone, Welcome back to a new episode of the Poker Go Podcast.
My name is Donna Peters. I am joined by cowboy Tim Duckworth. He
is full on cowboy. I walked into Aria today heading to the studio,
which is where we are recording this episode, and I was like, there's
a cowboy. There's a legit cowboy with the shortest shorts. Imagine Okay,
they're only five inch long. Come on, I can Yeah, you are
full like you should be at Stagecoach basically Coachella. Yeah, where is it
Vegas? I have no idea it is. When is it? Does I
care where it is? But yeah, as we recently talked about, Tim
and I are going to hit on some kind of random I guess, uh
WSP topics Today, we're going to focus on our top five favorite WSP tournament
wins Las Vegas only, so focusing on the stuff that happened here in Las
Vegas only. You just want to throw these this little wrinkle. I didn't
put that in the thing I sent to you. I don't know, but
I'm just saying it's very I mean, you weren't prepared for the podcast anyway.
I don't expect you to don't need to tell the people at harm that
I'm not. The people need to know who comes prepared and who doesn't.
Now, speaking of coming prepared, yeah, one, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven,
twelve, I wrote down thirteen one. I barely have five, so
I'll make up for the fact that you probably won't have five. I'll come
in with thirteen. You know. So, I know I told us we're
going to do top five, but obviously we might hit on some more mine.
I have definitely been that it was Its kind of an open ended topic
in terms of like how you want to approach it, you know, just
basically, I guess from your time in poker, like, what are the
five favorite win yours that resonated with you the most in one way or another.
Maybe that's because it was somebody you know that won. Maybe there was
a cool story about somebody winning. Maybe it has something to do with your
profession and working in the industry, whatever it may be. This episode of
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That's gto wizard dot com slash poker Go, all right. Five favorite tournament
wins. I didn't put mine in any order, so I'm gonna bounce all
over the place pretty much. I'll go first because I have more than you,
so I'll go first. First. One that popped out to me Ronnie
Barta twenty twelve, twenty five hundred dollars, six handed limit hold him.
Ronnie is a very good friend of mine. He's been a very good friend
of mine going back to our days grinding at Foxwoods in Connecticut. Not only
is it a good friend of mine and seeing him win is just a very
special thing for me. But I've always said that I like when people win
tournaments in their specialty, and Ronnie's specialty is limit hold them, and I
would even say that ronnie specialty is short handed limit hold them. So winning
the six handed limit hold them event at the twenty twelve sp is great.
I've told this story before in various places, but you know, you may
not know about it. You may have heard it, so forgive me if
I'm repeating myself. But Ronnie came into the final day ten out of ten
on the leaderboard. I think he had six big bets if I remember correctly,
bet on himself at the Rio Sportsbook. Whatever the max bet was,
I think it was like fifty bucks or something, and ended up going on
to win it. That was at the time when you could bet on the
final the final day or the final table things at the real sportsbook, which
was always fun to do, gave you horrible odds. All the odds were
always atrocious. But Ronnie did bet on himself, ends up getting heads up
with Marco Johnson, closes it out massive rail on the stage in pavilion over
at the Rio, I don't know, probably thirty forty people there railing him,
friends from all over. So that's something that's near and dear to my
heart, is Ronnie's win in twenty twelve. So that's what I'm going to
lead it off with my favorite, well, my number one, so that
the time I won the Pulconese Free Row in twenty ten. No, I'm
just kidding. I'm just messing with you. It's funny that you led with
Ronnie someone it's a close friend. I had one in a similar you know,
similar area. I was going to say till last, but I'm going
to bring it up top. I think that's fair. One of my favorite
wins Chad Holloway Casino Employees Bracelet Event winner, and this was twenty thirteen.
And the reason this was a favorite win obviously you get to see a friend
win a bracelet win eighty four thousand dollars. I got to be kind of
part of the sweat, like you were saying, you know, you might
have been part of running sweat on the rail a piece of Chad. No
oh no, no, no, definitely not. You know you've also been
on the rail for when our friend for when Gary ran deep in the main.
I was working at time, so I'm going to be really on the
rail. But whid win so I campaign, Yeah, but it's still it's
a win in his mind but with Chad, we were on the rail,
we were cheering, we were with every hand. There was discussions of chops.
I remember, I still have a chop, Chad, no chop.
I still have a photo somewhere on one of my old computers of the ICM
calculator and the propose chop and that Chad turned out. So to me,
that was a great way to kick off that World Series twenty thirteen, Close
friend winning. We're on the Riyal, We're screaming, we're yelling, we're
cheering, we're making I don't remember, we're making eagle sounds because he's wearing
an eagle had the eagles, Yeah, somebody had. He had the bird
shirt and somebody had the I think it was Ben Ludlow had like the CACA
on on phone, yeah producer which Ryan Will put the call in put right,
Yeah, yeah, well for sure. So to me, that's that
was something that I really like. Treasure, you know, didn't have a
pace. I was just saying a good friend win, but it was kind
of pretty cool to like be part of someone's winning moment. So makes sense,
all right. Second for me, this one going back to twenty ten,
so my third World Series of poker. My first one we're working wise,
was was two thousand and eight Simon Watt's Tom Dwan. Yes, in
was it a fifteen hundred dollars Nolan Holden tournament? I think, I think
so. It was like a small bind Nolan had hold Him tournament. It
was when the Amazon room in the corner is where the main set was.
I remember shout out producer Rich Ryan. He was working the event. Might
have been his first event because this was very early in the series. It
was event number eleven. Now what made this so crazy? Simon Watt comes
out on top of Tom Dwan. Is Dwan had outrageous bracelet bets. Yeah,
like from all accounts, he stood to win eight figures if he won
a bracelet, like and it was. It was crazy. So you talk
to some different high stakes players, you know, they say that he could
have broke the high stakes world if he would were to win a bracelet.
You know, all these people were betting against him to do it at the
time. This was in the corner of the Amazon room and then right outside
the feature table. If you've seen the feature table now, it's like three
times as big as what it was, So imagine something a third of the
side. So then right outside on like the backside of the bleachers where there's
like you know, have a wall, but the wall only goes up to
the top of the bleachers, but there's a ten k I believe it was
ten K Study eight. I was covering that event, and there were so
many high stakes players in there that were sweating what was happening in this like
fifteen hundred dollars nolamit Holdham tournament between Simon Watt and Tom Dwan, and like
they're all running back and forth, and there was obviously like kind of the
main entrance to like that feature table air, but there was also like this
back tunnel, and I just remember Mike Madis running back and forth, back
and forth NonStop, like yelling to the to the people in the ten K
stud tournament what was happening the update, Like people were losing their minds.
That tournament was like basically not running because people were sweating what was happening with
Tom Dwan so hard? All these people had action of it. If he
would have won the tournament, I mean it would have people might have just
like got up and left the ten K study tournament. I mean it was
just an absolutely crazy spectacle there. We were working with poker at the time.
Again, it was rich Ryan who was working the event. I want
to say he was working with Martin Harris, but I could be wrong there,
so forgive me if I get that wrong. But I mean, you
know, just just like making sure that the site worked, making sure that
you got everything correct, because like the pressure's on you from a reporting outlet
trying to get this right because you know what's happening. This bet was public,
you know, so many people were out there against Tom Dwan. Tom
Dwan was very, very confident, probably cocky, you know, that he
was going to win a brace with that everyone else was bad and he was
really good. And of course this is also like Tom Dwan at the height
of his superpowers, you know, like where he's on top of the world.
He's destroying games left and right online live, all this sort of stuff.
And now it's like but like all the tournament guys, the heisige tournament
guys, like he's he doesn't have what it takes to win in a tournament.
Yeah, and then he gets heads up with some random guy out of
what was he out of New Zealand? Was it Simon Simon Watt. So
it's like I'm and Watt's playing heads up against Tom Dwan. First of all,
you're going against a star at the time, who's who's one of the
biggest stars, if not the biggest, in the game at this time in
twenty ten, and he's playing heads up for what two or three hundred thousand
dollars. Dwan is playing for like ten million million somebody. Like it's just
it's absolutely insane. What was happening in that moment. I just I remember
so vividly, just Mike Madison, just the constant sprinting back and forth through
that tunnel and just yelling, yelling, yell, And then like finally Simon
Watt dies it does it, and and Mike Massow comes running back like he
did it. He did it, like and everyone was so happy and so
relieved that that they didn't have to pay this bet. But the thing was
is that, like, yes, it was a big sigh of relief for
all these players that had bet against Tom Dwan. This was only event eleven.
Yeah, there was so many more events to go. There was like
forty five events or whatever it is left that like Tom Dwan still could have
done it, but like, you know, I think obviously people were like,
Okay, like he's at least showed us that he probably can do this.
Yeah, he's gonna But then also like there was the opposite of like,
oh my god, we just faded this, you know, so like
in a way we're kind of in the clear, but we're also not in
the clear. So it was it was just such a crazy, crazy moment
that event. Simon won six hundred and fourteen thousand dollars he won tournament?
Was it fift fifteen hundred? No, they would hold him even eleven twenty
ten World Series of Poker. Since then, he had two more cashes in
twenty ten at the World Series and then two more in twenty eleven, and
we haven't heard of from him since. I just remember, I think it
was Mike Matisow that's the line came from, Like they should put a Yeah,
they should put a poster of this boy and Bobby's you know, so
so yeah they should yeah, one hundred percent my second one and go all
the way back to my boy. Joseph hash him. Okay, two thousand
and five World Series of Poker. I was nineteen at the time. Legally
allowed to play poker in Australia, but obviously not legal to come here and
uh playing in America. But I remember that time I was playing a lot
at Crown Casino and during that time, it was you know in in I
think it was early July back then. The one of the t ds,
I don't know who it was. They were announcing the act, like not
announcing the action, but announcing updates basically like reading live updates. This was
before Twitter, this was before you know, poking you so, I don't
know how they're getting updated before live stream before before live streams. It's probably
Joe. It was probably you know, Tony Hasham messaging someone a Crown and
then they relaying the information. They were like updating you know, Joe's you
know, the six left, the five left, Joe's the chip leader,
cetera. I remember the big announcement when you know he won. They announced
Joe one, Joe one, and everyone in the room, you know you've
been to the Crown poker room, poker room, I know, got the
Vegas sign erupted in cheers, and I feel like that was pretty like monumental
for my poker, well, my poker career as that really kickstarted things back
home in Australia. People started playing. Well, he was obviously, you
know, from the city. I was living in Melbourne, and poker just
took you know, we talked about money makers, poker boom. Hashim was
definitely a poker boom for not just Australia but that whole like Australasian region and
that always. I just remember that the way we heard that he won,
but also me being in the poker room at the time, and then what
it led to, you know, in the years after that and where Australian
poker kind of went crazy. Pass the Sugar Baby, Pass the Sugar My
next one. Greg Merson twenty twelve WSP Main Event, Just I put this
one in like the very cool story category because you know, Gregy had this
this Greggy huh yeah, I mean that's what he's known as. Gregy has
this. You know, he has like this deep battle with addiction, like
and he fights through it all, you know, successful poker player online and
stuff, but then falls into this addiction. There's that famous story when I
think it was Christian Harder and Anthony. Greg like basically found him and needed
to like, you know, help him get everything back together, and like
there's that whole thing. So he you know, he beats the addiction.
Then in the event itself he's down to two and a half big blinds.
I think it was ten twenty thousand, he has fifty thousand with like one
hundred and fifty players left. He ends up staying alive though, and then
of course ultimately goes on to win the tournaments. So there's that aspect.
Also, I feel like this part kind of gets forgotten. Is I forget
exactly how long that WSP Main Event was during that time, but he won
right before that, he won the ten K six Max, So he basically
went two weeks or whatever was without winning losing a tournament, and he won
two of the biggest and best tournaments of the year. He wins the ten
K six Max for like one point three million dollars or whatever it is,
and then wins THEWSP Main Event. So like, the guy just didn't lose
for two weeks straight. So I mean, I can't imagine what like that
sort of crazy feeling was, But you know, I'm a sucker for a
good story. And like, if you remember twenty twelve when when Greg Merson
won that, you know, he like he breaks down in tears after he
wins. He just comes out on top of the biggest and best tournament of
the world after everything that he's been through. So that's just a really cool
story for me and I you know, I really love seeing that. I'll
kind of always remember that one. My next one throwing it way back as
well again two thousand and seven, well series of puck of my first wsp
here in Las Vegas. Want a satellite for the main event, we won't
need to talk about how I did in the main event, But Bubbled with
Queen, I was out, you know, like I was. I was
a tourist. I was also a fanboy. I was twenty one. I
was, you know, doing whatever I could to kind of absorb everything that
was at the Rio. And I remember it was it was I think day
one A or one B of the main event. Walking around you know,
I'm not playing today one. I think Day one C. But I remember
just walking around the whole you know, I'm in the Amazon room. I
walked to the very far end of the Amazon room, you know where like
the waitresses come out that far end, and I see I see like a
table just randomly in the middle. I'm just like watching from the rail like
it's maybe, you know, two tables away, and I notice Eric Sidel
is at that final table and a couple of people I recognized, but I
wasn't sure, but I knew Eric's Sidel and I was like, I was
trying to figure out, like what this event was, trying to find a
clock ended up being the five K no limbit deuce, probably with Reeby's,
which he ended up winning. I think it was, yeah, for his
eighth bracelet. And I don't have any cool story about this, Like I
wasn't there, I wasn't on the rail watching him win, but I remember
he was the first person that I saw in Vegas that to me, I
knew. And I was like, oh my god, that's Eric's side.
L like he's literally two tables away from me. And you know, I
watched for a little bit. You can't see anything because obviously we have the
rail, but I was like, oh my god, this is so cool.
Oh look he's four handed, Oh he's three handed, et cetera.
I wasn't there for the end, but I just remember then I found out
the next day because they used to have those newsletters that he won. He
won that bracelet. I was like, oh my god, I just kind
of saw Eric Sidell win his eighth brace and you know, eight bracelet at
the time was pretty impressive because you know we only had you know, ten
was the most I think right at that point in twenty seven, two thousand
and seven. So yeah, no, no cool story, but I remember
that just you know, it feels like, oh my god, Eric Sidell
is literally two tables away from me. I just always remember that as my
first time ever walking in the Amazon room, first time to Las Vegas.
Yeah, I had I had kind of a similar feeling, and it involves
one event on my list, so I'll kind of just jump to that one.
But two thousand and eight my first World Series working out here. I
was working for Poker News at the time, the ten thousand dollars World Championship
pot limit hold Them. I remember covering the event alongside Change one hundred was
her name on Poker News. But I remember walking through the yield and I
saw Patrick Antonius and I was like that that I was like deer in headlights,
like stopped, and I was like, no, compose yourself, like
figure it out right, like you know what I mean. And I think
like Mike Sexton like called me out for it, like he saw me like
reacting, like called me out for it. So like that was that was
funny. But working this event from start to finish was obviously a very prestigious
event. There there isn't no longer Potlam and hold him as a standalone event
at the World Series of Poker. But this one ten k Byen, you
know, really stacked field. I mean, no, no medic goes on
to win it for eight hundred K. But like this final table, Andy
Block second, Kathy Liebert third, Mike Sexton gets fourth, I'm at mckisjah
fifth, Chris Bell sixth, Patrick Antonius he got seventh, Mike Sours got
eighth, ninth, Phil Locke tenth, John Cabaj, I mean, David
Benefield's in the money here, Alexander KOs Stritzen, Ellie Elezra Vivid Raj Kumar,
I mean, I haven't seen that Ted Ted Lawson, Like I mean,
this this event is just absolutely crazy, and like I'm just a brand
new kid out here working in the industry, fell in love with poker,
and now here I am covering this event. So it was just super cool
to be out here for the first event I covered, like having that same
sort of thing he had with side doubt when I saw Patrick Antonius being like,
oh my god, Like that's like because like at the time, like
Patrick Antonius was kind of like an online like you knew him online. Yeah,
obviously you followed him online and whatever, but like then you see someone
in the flesh of that stature within the industry that you've fallen to love,
and it was just like so crazy and so cool. I'm going to give
another one before we go back to you just go there story, Yeah,
go ahead. The best part of that story is the hole No Nod Medic
Phil Ivy incident. Do you remember. Yeah, we're like he backed him
because he was he was SERB online or SERB twenty seven or whatever it was,
and like I think he just as the story goes, and we could
be getting this totally wrong, but Ivy would battle with him online. Then
asked him if he was playing the wsop you know, Nanad said yeah,
you know, I'm gonna play whatever. He agreed to back him, and
like then he just like, because you at the time, you could just
transfer money on full too, so he sent them money. Nanad plays this
event and then I guess after he wins, as the story goes, Nanad
just like goes up to him and gives him all this cash and I's like,
who are you? Yeah, And I believe it was Howard Letter that
like told the story like yeah, where because he was at the table in
some event and I's like who are you and he's like he didn't know who
he was and he tried to tell him, but then he's like, I'm
sir, and he's like, oh, you know that's picture. That's just
wow. And Patrick Antonius age, you've aged a lost leave me a lot.
But Antony, this looks exactly the same. It is scary two thousand
and seven. That's great. Patrick is like Tom Brady and again all right,
So my next one is Jason Kuhn twenty twenty one P twenty Heads Up
Championship. Now I like this one because aas Kun' has always been widely regarded
as one of the nicest guys in poker. Also one of the absolute best
poker players, right, just a supreme no limit hold them player. So
him finally getting that monkey off his back, finally winning his first bracelet after
all of those stupid times. And I'm part of the part of this problem
talking about you know, the best without a bracelet, best without a bracelet,
and kun was always on that list, if not the first name on
that list. Finally, finally, finally gets it done. Even after he
won, he kind of like did the motion of like throwing the monkey off
his back, and you could tell that like it meant a lot to him.
He doesn't come out these days and play a super high volume like he
once did anywhere, not not even just the w spe but anywhere. You
know, he just doesn't play as big a volume. He focuses towards the
high buy and stuff. So which is also like kind of part of this
where the twenty five K Heads Up Championship is a highly specialized event, Like
you get these guys coming out of the woodwork that are just no limit hold
them heads up crushers out of Finland or wherever they're from. You know,
Kuhn beats them all in this event premium price point twenty five K. Like
the whole thing just was kind of like very Jason Kuhon, Like like if
you were to pick a tournament for Jason Kuhn to win, it'd be like
two hundred fifty K Super high Roller, Hunter K high Roller, twenty five
K Heads Up Championship, Like it just fits Jason Kuhn So him finally getting
that monkey off the back. I remember being there. I remember, you
know, like the like the relief in a way obviously the excitement for winning
his first base, but also like that relief like I finally did it get
me off that stupid list. Let's go. You know, I really love
that and I loved, you know, seeing that happen at the twenty twenty
one dobasipy think I got two left, I'm trying to go which one I
want to go to? Two left? I got like eighteen yeah, but
come on, man, let's let's say something. All right, I'm gonna
just kept going and I was like, man, there's a loup. That's
why you said saw if I could come up with a million two, if
I prepped like you, I'm gonna go to my other boy, my fellow
Australian that really sometimes is Italian Jeffrey Assandra. You know what's funny. I
thought of this. I thought of this, and I didn't put it on
there. But I'm happy you did. We're going back to two thousand and
nine World Series of Poker where he won three YEP bracelets within I'm gonna call
it. We'll call it three weeks. He won the fifteen hundred and seven
card Stud, he won the ten K seven card side high Low, and
he won the twenty five hundred rights. He won the Triple Stud crown.
Yeah is what he won. Yes, he's the Triple Stud Champion. At
that time, I was pretty big into mixed games. I really enjoyed mixed
games, and obviously, you know, Jeff has a cult kind of figure
back home, a very intimidating person that if you rung him back, he's
intimidating everything. If you wrung him, you maybe take your head off.
Mate. I didn't want to say it. Yeah, true, you don't
put your anthe in. Yeah, he's gonna take your head off. I
mean that's just how it is. And at that time, winning three bracelets
obviously incredibly impressive. Winning three bracelets in three different games within three weeks,
all mixed games, all against the world's best, was incredible. Uh.
That's something that always stood out to me. And you know, I remember
they used to do the brig bracelet ceremonies in the Amazon room. They brought
him up, take his photos. We play the Aussie anthem or maybe it
was the Italian anthem at the time, who knows, maybe it was some
techno remix of both. But yeah, you know that was what my second
year working for Poconese that was kind of like, wow, this is this
is impressive. This guy is legit. So yeah, that's one that really
stands out for me. Next one for me phil Ivy winning his tenth bracelet
twenty fourteen w SP fifteen dollars eight game. Now, it's obviously very cool
Ivy getting number ten right now. In addition to that, this was in
the in the thick of it for our Ivy Stories run. Yeah, like
like Ivy remember notoriously doesn't want to do interviews, can't get the guy on
camera, hates it like we'll turn it down, just doesn't like to do
it right. So we came up with this idea at Poker News where let's
interview other people telling their favorite stories about Ivy and we got some absolute bangers,
right, and so this is all happening. The videos are doing awesome
on social media. People are loving them like it's just it's it's great,
great content. Ivy wins his tenth bracelet. In this we have to scramble
to get someone to interview him. I end up getting Remco and Remco's freaking
out. Sweat is dripping off his head. He's like, I gotta go
interview Ivy. What do I say? Blah blah blah. Remco handled it
like an absolute champion, is a great interviewer. He went right with Ivy
and Ivy. Ivy even like calls him out in the interview. He says,
like, I've seen those Ivy stories. Yea, not all of that's
true, like something like that. I'm paraphrasing, but you know, he
tries to downplay a lot of the stories with within the within the Ivy stories
category that that were happening. So just kind of how that all came together.
It's his tenth he Jones joins that pantheon of players that have ten gold
bracelets, you know, in the thick of that run, like the whole
thing was was pretty pretty crazy and pretty fun how it all came together.
So yeah, phil Ivy winning his tenth gold bracelet. As some people know,
I worked for pocon News up until twenty twenty nineteen, Well serious pokram.
My specialty was mixed games coverage, and I covered the ten k Dealer's
Choice, you know, each year it was on the schedule, and our
specialty me and Mickey Duff, one of our listeners, one of our close
friends, was we would track all the games two tables out and that was
that was a fun part. So I loved covering the Dealer's Choice. Track
games. You can see what everyone's choosing, you know, the final two
tables, et cetera. Second year, I think twenty eighteen, Adam Friedman,
when's his second bracelet? The next year, twenty nineteen, Adam Friedman,
when's he's third bracelet? Another three hundred k in that pocket. Obviously
we had a year off for you know what. Twenty twenty one, we
come back. I'm no longer with poconws. I'm here at Pokgo and look
at this Adam Friedman gunning for his third consecutive dealers Choice bracelet. And do
you remember who else was on that that final table? Help me correct?
Jake Swartz, Carol f Mike Madison, Andrew Kelsol Outside of the final table,
Matt Glance, Goro Daniel Nagrano, Jara Via and I don't know if
you remember this. They were playing on the feature table in the rio and
one of the side tables, and we were like, we got to do
something. Remember we turned the jib un. We made Sato ass live,
So I mean it was better than nothing. Of course, it was like
I was thrown up randomly. We had some split screen where you could see
some players, you could see a flop. They were like four screens.
Yeah, it was we were moving, We're moving the the jip around.
Brent Hanks was on at at one point, Morey was on at a one
point, and I remember was I was field reporting that event through the stream
though, because we just had launched chat. It just had launched, like
it was like infancy of all chats, and I was running up getting counts,
putting him in the chat, people asking me questions like blah blah blah.
I'd run up, get something, put it in, and you know.
Obviously, Adam Friedman ended up defeeding Phil Hellm for two hundred and forty
eight thousand dollars. He won his third consecutive Dealer's Choice. Basically he's fourth
overall, obviously beating the best player in the world, Phil Helm with one
of my favorite players too. So that was just like this kind of culmination
of all these crazy moments of me being on the Dealer's choice my entire career,
and now not with poconws but kind of still on it. Us rigging
a stream together, getting to see Friedman Helm with and I think one of
the best photos I've ever seen. I can't remember if it was our photographer
Antonio that shot it or if it was you know, Enrique, but you
know, on the final hand, I think Helm with Missus his draw.
They're both sitting next to each other and Friedman just puts his hand up,
fist pumping that he just won that third brace. It's just like an absolutely
incredible kind of moment and culmination of all these things happening at once. And
that's my final favorite WSP win. All Right, So I'll run through the
remainder of my twenty so you got twenty seven more, right, Yeah,
just talking about Antonio wes FONDII winning the first big one for one drop,
I mean, this whole thing was just a spectacle, like it was.
They brought out the Cirque de Sola performers, they had that whole section roped
off for the special area. They had like two butlers that were serving special
food and snacks for the place. The whole thing was just absolutely out of
control. And then as FONDII gets to the final table, Gilile Liberty is
there. They're putting clown noses on. They're having an absolute blast. As
FONDII goes on to win the thing for eighteen million or whatever the heck the
first place prize was, he's celebrating on the table with no shoes on.
There's the massive pile of cash. His friends are hoisting him up and down,
throwing him up in the air. I mean, that whole thing was
just wild. There will there have been other big one for one drops.
There will likely be more, you know, but there will never be one
like the first one. There will never be one like that. It was.
It was incredible. The whole thing was just absolutely wild. So Antonio
Wes Fondiari wins that first big one for one drop another one. This one's
kind of a I'm not sure anyone would would know about this. Maybe they
do, maybe they don't, I don't know. But Matt Graham beating John
Robert Balan two thousand and eight fifteen. Listen to this event fifteen hundred dollars
limit hold them shootout, seventeen hour final day. I worked it alongside James
quill Aka. Comping cards ended at seven thirty am seven. It was back
then there's no hot stuff rule, there was no they play through. They
didn't make the found table un till ten pm. They get to heads up
play. Blond has an eight to one lead, blows it like it's just
there's no one in the Amazon other than like these players, like a TD
A couple of people on the round. Remember Chino Reem was like popping in
and on the rail. I think he like came with some strippers. It
was a whole thing. So so there was that blonde, like, you
know, he blows the lead. He was devastated. Matt Graham comes all
the way back wins it. So like then the next day we have that
because we always used to have those predation And I'm like half asleep and Gary's
like yelling at me. Our boss at the time. Gary Gates is like,
you need to stay awake. What are you doing? And then and
I had sent John Caldwell, who was in charge of the poker news team
at the time. I had sent him a message saying like, hey,
we just got done seven thirty you know, blah blah blah whatever, and
he said, oh yeah, by the way, that they were working till
seven thirty am, and then they ended up letting us go right away after
the meeting. But that whole thing was just such a whirlwind, the ups
and downs of Blond having the lead, losing it like he did the time,
and it was like, it's one thing playing super long sessions and playing
late and if you've played poker, you've probably the experiences at some point.
But playing a massively long session when it's way past your bedtime the sun's coming
up, doesn't matter where you are. But if you're winning, great adrenaline
is pumping. You can play forever. When you're losing, it sucks like
and when you're locked into a tournament, you can't just be like, all
right, I'm cashing out, I'm going home like it probably sucks even more
so. Can only feel for Jean Ribert Bealon there blowing that lead. So
that one was crazy. Ryan Reese twenty thirteen w SIP main event. This
one I got to give a shout out to Rich Ryan producer Rich Ryan,
producer of the Poker Groat podcast, longtime friend of ours, because twenty twelve
in October at the WSIP circuit stop in Hammond in Indiana, just outside Chicago,
Ryan Reese comes second in that main event for like two hundred something thousand
dollars. Rich aka Rich stradamis like, we watched this guy play, and
I remember Rich coming to me and like, this guy is the next big
thing in Poke. He's gonna win the WSP Man Event, Like he flat
out said it to me and tournament director Charlie Serraci, like he's like this
guy. Like everything Ryan did, like in the event was like kind of
like when people talk about like Stu Hunger. It was like we were seeing
our version of Stu Hunger in a way. Like it was just that everything
he did worked. He always seemed to make the right decision, he always
seemed to have the right read. Like it was just very weird to watch
it happen. And then Rich is like, this guy's gonna win the Man
and then he goes on to win the WSM Man Event. So that thing
coming together was crazy. Another WASP main event winner the next year, Martin
Jacobson. Now this one is bittersweets. I guess Martin great guy. Great
to see him win. In twenty fourteen, when the Waspan event had a
guarantee of ten million dollars for first place, Team Media drafted him in the
twenty five K Fantasy. I think we got him for a dollar. I
believe he played Day one A of the wap Man event finishes with the chip
lead. He basically has the chip lead from start to finish. Then they
get to ten handed. Now at the time, because they were doing the
November nine, the twenty five K Fantasy rules locked in the finishing position of
where you finished in chips for the final table, and Martin miss clicks.
Remember with ace Jack, he meant to raise, he didn't raise. It
ends up like messing up this whole situation. He loses this pot, he
loses the chip lead, you know, he goes into the final table like
something like six or whatever, So we don't get the points for him winning
or finishing with the chip lead and ultimately would have allowed us to cash in
twenty five K Fantasy that year. So that's kind of kind of messed up.
Also, there was like the situation at the final table with the chips,
where like I think he doubled up Felix Stevenson and he overpaid. So
there was that whole situation, but nonetheless Martin still goes on to win it.
I remember afterwards going up with him. I wrote down a team media
on a piece of paper and I said, you got to hold this up
with me for a photo because it's just a little little troll job that like
we picked the wasb man in champion for twenty five K Fantasy didn't get credit
for it and ultimately didn't cash. You know the best thing about mind Jacobson
Winny, what's that we will you know now that I'm going to say this
and put this out there, I bet you will change, but we will
forever be immortalized on his winners man he can say out tough left, that
is true. Jeff Madson two thousand and six, he won two tournaments that
year. Now, that was like before I had started working in the street.
I was very much a poker fan, watching it all the time,
and like at the time he became he won his first bracelet and he became
the youngest ever. He was like twenty one in something weeks, right,
he beat Eric Frolick's record shout out Ephro, and then a couple of weeks
later he wins his second bracelet. I think both of them were for like
six hundred k or six hundred and fifty k big big Nolan Holden tournaments.
He cashes a few more times, think he made another final table troop whatever,
wins Player of the Year. But for me, a young person who
had just gotten into poker in the recent years and like was very much into
trying to play it and like the whole dream and all that sort of thing.
I was like, if this twenty one year old can do it,
I can do it, Like that's what it like. Kind of in a
way, it was like, you know, it's not just like the Eric
Sidels, the Johnny Chans, the Helmets, the Neigranis of the world,
like kids can do it like this is in a way it was like a
breakthrough, like you can be a good poker player. And like Jeff Madson
was kind of like that first young gun out of absolutely nowhere to come in
and do it, And I thought that that was just so cool. So
that really resonated with me. Another one, uh Vitelli lunkin forty thousand dollars
NOLM that hold them that like special event that happened, just the wild final
table, Isaac Haxton saying like I don't ever use my one time, but
one time, you know, you got Lex Veldaus at the final table,
Greg Raimer at the final table. Just that event, that buying level at
the time. Like I remember, I remember the Poker New Site crashed.
It was a whole disaster because it kicked off the World Series of Poker.
We like weren't ready for it from a volume perspective. It was a whole
mess. But just like that buying happening on that scale, the players that
it got, you know, and then Vitalia Lunkin going on to win it.
I'll never forget that event. And then my last one here is chip
Rees two thousand and six WSP fifty thousand dollars Horse Tournament, so the first
time that this tournament was held. Of course, the fifty thousand dollars Horse
Tournament has now evolved into the fifty thousand dollars Poker Players Championship, but chip
Rees widely regarded as the best all around poker player in the world. The
player that the trophy of the fifty k PPC is now named after the David
Chipres Trophy. He wins the inaugural event, which is like, that's just
very cool, right. I mean this was you know, before my time
in terms of being out there, but I you know, I was aware
of this event. I was aware of what it was supposed to be,
and like the person that was supposed to win the first one won the first
one, which was like crazy. You add in the fact that one of
the longest, if not the longest. I don't know if the record still
stands, but heads up against Andy Block took seven hours and ten minutes of
heads up play. This is when they did didn't they do it? As
the final table was Nolan HoldEm was that this year? That was the next
year, the first televised one. But I mean this this event was crazy.
Obviously just you know, massive names in this one, but just the
idea of like the best all around player, the player that everyone talks about
is the absolute best, who who largely focused on cash games for his career,
you know, didn't bite that tournament bug that a lot of people had
had gotten into. But chip Reese comes out, he wins the fifty k
horse. That was certainly one of my favorites. I'll say honorable mention for
me is Johnny Chan beating Eric Sidel in the WSP main event, just because
it's the tournament that made it into Rounders and Rounders is my favorite movie.
And like that moment is obviously remembered, it is iconicized within Rounders because of
that. So like that win, even though I was obviously not anywhere near
poker at the time, but like you know, it comes back when Rounders
is released and getting all that popularity. So yeah, so those are those
are my favorite moments. Those are Tim Tim's favorite moments. You know,
a little bit of reminiscing. There are a lot of reminiscens missing there,
some nostalgia. Hope it brought you guys back. If you guys have any
favorite moments for for WSP wins, let us know. You Guys can email
us of course podcast at pokergoa dot com. You can hit us up on
social media. He's Tim under underscore Peters. That's a double underscore. Sorry,
Tim underscore underscore Duckworth. My apologies, I'm blending us and I'm Donnie
underscore Peters. We're gonna do some more fun stuff like this, just kind
of getting, you know, revving up that engine. That's right. As
we get into the World Series of Poker coming up, we're gonna do biggest
what if moments in World Series of Poker history. We're gonna talk about the
three storylines that we're most excited for to follow for this w s o P.
Well, well, you know, to prepare for these ones, can
I just w I mean you can do whatever you want. You look like
an ass if you don't prepare. I mean I nailed my guest, I
nailed it came with good ones. You know, you're like one of those
guys who studies ten minutes before the examine gets an A and I don't know
how because okay, I thought it was because you were Australian. Anyway,
that's gonna do it for this podcast. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it. A
little bit of a different twist there as we head into World Series of Poker
season, but yeah, that's gonna be it, and we will talk to
you guys soon. Jenny Express