By far one of the highlights of the 2014 poker year was the battle at the World Series of Poker Championship Event final table. Taking us inside what it was like to be a part of that event, All In Magazine has issued a documentary that concentrates on the historic run of Mark Newhouse to his second WSOP Championship Event final table and the devastating occurrence of his second consecutive ninth place finish.
In the documentary entitled “Off the Felt,” Newhouse allowed the All In cameras to follow him around during his run at the World Championship. In the first episode of the interesting series, Newhouse discussed with the All In cameras his history in the game, including his breakthrough win on the World Poker Tour after he had dropped out of college. While he was riding high from that, the inevitable downswing occurred as Newhouse, perhaps a bit overconfident from his success, succumbed to playing poker at too high of stakes to sustain and other pitfalls (drinking and proposition betting). Newhouse himself estimates that, of the $1.5 million he won from his WPT victory, it took him a year to steam through the money.
The first episode continues to recount his run at the 2013 WSOP Championship Event and his departure in ninth place at the hands of eventual champion Ryan Riess. “Finishing ninth (last year) actually turned out to be kind of devastating,” Newhouse admits to Jonathan Grotenstein and Ryan Johnson (the interviewers for the documentary) as they travel in Southern California. It also points out the difficulties that Newhouse faced in making the back-to-back final tables, informing the viewer that it was a 524,558:1 odds of it happening.
Of course, Newhouse did make it to that second consecutive November Nine and All In captured Newhouse’s immediate reactions (and that from his friends such as David ‘Chino’ Rheem) following that special moment. “It’s four months away,” Newhouse stated, “I don’t want to even think about it right now.” Newhouse didn’t play any poker at all during the hiatus, instead preferring to wait until the November Nine final table to think about the future. “Now the real journey begins,” Newhouse notes as the first episode comes to a close.
The second episode begins with the night before the November Nine final table begins. With friends and family surrounding him, Newhouse welcomes the All In cameras into his hotel room. “I feel great,” Newhouse flatly states, “I’m cool and I’m ready to play.” The All In cameras then pick out the highlight of what would be Newhouse’s final table, taking down a hand against Felix Stephensen that brought his rail to its feet. Shortly afterwards, the wheels come off.
Exactly 18 minutes later, the hand that would be Newhouse’s downfall occurred. On a 2-4-J-4-J board, Newhouse made his now-infamous move in pushing all in against Will Tonking while Newhouse held pocket tens to Tonking’s pocket Queens. Catching that moment precisely were the All In cameras as they followed Newhouse away from the felt following his second ninth place finish.
Understandably, in his exit interviews with the media in general, Newhouse was a bit curt in responding to questions, even from the All In staff. Even with the devastating departure, Newhouse still handled all fan requests for autographs as he moved towards his room. “He’s handling it better than I would,” Michael Mizrachi, another Newhouse friend, stated. Particularly brutal was that, while Newhouse was making his way to his room, the “live delay” feed of the ESPN final table broadcast airs behind him as he makes his exit.
Only once he is in his room does Newhouse let the moment sink in. “It’s nice to have you here for the boring finish,” Newhouse states to the All In team before dissecting the hand against Tonking. “I put him (Tonking) on just about what he had,” Newhouse says as the cameras roll. As he continues to break down his thinking, it is obvious the disappointment that Newhouse is beginning to realize as another ninth place finish sinks in on him.
The video series from All In is an outstanding look at Newhouse as he made the journey again to poker’s highest pinnacle. It also showed the devastating feeling that comes along with the game of poker itself. With hope there will be more episodes of “Off the Felt” so that poker fans – and the community in general – get a true vision into the highs and lows of poker.
