The 30-hour marathon Poker Den is over, with Andrew Feldman and Robert Williamson III coming out on top of the star-studded field.
This is poker at its best: after over 30 hours of play at Party Poker’s Poker Den marathon, Andrew Feldman and Robert Williamson III took over $63,000 each – averaging earnings of over $20,000 per hour. But since the Poker Den is a zero-sum game, this means that some of the other celebrity players had to come out in the red – some losing as much as $78,425.
Poker News Daily has compiled a chart of buy-ins, cash-outs and win/loss for all 21 players to better evaluate their results at The Big Game. Here they are in order of winnings:
Buy-in | Cash out | Won/lost | |
Robert Williamson III | 30,000 | 93675 | 63,675 |
Andrew Feldman | 40,000 | 103350 | 63,350 |
Richard Wheatley | 20,000 | 61025 | 41,025 |
Bodo Sbrzesny | 20,000 | 42850 | 22,850 |
Phil Laak | 20,000 | 42325 | 22,325 |
Chris Smith | 20,000 | 40000 | 20,000 |
Juha Helppi | 40,000 | 55,775 | 15,775 |
Roberto Romanello | 10,000 | 24,400 | 14,400 |
Jennifer Tilly | 20,000 | 32550 | 12,550 |
Ian Frazer | 20,000 | 28,550 | 8,550 |
Neil Channing | 60,000 | 66450 | 6,450 |
Joshua Landis | 39,350 | 41,874 | 2,524 |
Ilios Kamatakis | 10,000 | 0 | -10,000 |
Barny Boatman | 30,000 | 19,000 | -11,000 |
Joel Nordkist | 30,000 | 14,200 | -15,800 |
Alex Roumeltiotis | 25,150 | 0 | -25,150 |
Chris Parker | 60,000 | 28,550 | -31,450 |
David Williams | 40,000 | 0 | -40,000 |
William Martin | 40,000 | 0 | -40,000 |
Roland de Wolfe | 50,000 | 0 | -50,000 |
Sammy George | 78,425 | 0 | -78,425 |
The indisputable big winners of the night were British player Andrew Feldman and American pro Robert Williamson III, whose earnings for the session were within $300 of each other. London resident Richard “The Bear” Wheatley came in a distant second with $41,025 – still, very good pickings for less than 2 days at the felt.
The revelation of the night was German player Bodo Sbrzesny, who made $22,850 appear out of thin air: 29-year-old Sbrzesny won his seat into the Big Game through a cash game rake race in Party Poker, and proceeded to impress the attendants to the point that commentator Jesse May said: “a new star is born.”
America’s poker power couple, Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly – nicknamed “The Unabomber” and “The Unabombshell” – won a total of $34,875; Laak more than doubled his $20,000 buy-in, and Tilly got a respectable $12,550 return on hers.
But for some to win others have to lose – that’s poker. The greatest donor of the night was Sammy George, who rebought his way into a 78,425 investment and lost it all. He can take some consolation in knowing that celebrity players Roland de Wolfe and David Williams did not fare a lot better: Bodog pro Williams lost his entire buy-in of $40,000, topped by de Wolfe who lost $10,000 more.
The poker Den was organized by Matchroom Sport, and their Head of Online Gaming Eddie Hearn raved about this edition: “The Poker Den just keeps getting better and better. If you thought season one and two were entertaining you ain’t seen nothing yet! Whilst the old guard stood firm at the poker den, new stars were born.” The 30 hours of footage will be condensed into an action-packed show with commentary by Jesse May, Ian Frazer, Matt Broughton, Andrew Feldman, Roland De Wolfe and Roberto Romanello. PartyPoker.com’s Poker Den: The Big Game III will be broadcast by the UK’s channel Five early next year, and then be distributed internationally.
