The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOP) Main Event is in full swing, with many of the world’s best poker players in attendance. For all of the action on the felt, however, many in the Twitterverse have been discussing the latest entrance by Phil Hellmuth into the Casino at the Empire in London on Thursday.
“Today maybe my best entrance ever!,” Hellmuth chirped to his followers as he headed to the tables for Day 1A. “Video soon: Red double decker bus, 16 member big band, 11 models dressed like Lady Gaga singing Poker Face.” The usual Hellmuthian parade was captured by several members of the media, including the unfortunate finale, which drew catcalls from those who viewed it in London. “After whole Hellmuth charade, he and the Lady Gagas all walked into the wrong building… The theater next door,” noted poker journalist Eric Ramsey.
The reaction to Hellmuth’s latest entrance was predictably harsh by both the media and his fellow players. “Some of the Hellmuth ‘girls’. Or boys?,” queried poker journalist Tatjana Pasalic. Ramsey also pointed out, “Nothing like broad public displays that perpetuate negative American stereotypes abroad.”
One of the players who had the harshest reaction was Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, who Tweeted, “Phil Hellmuth couldn’t possibly be any more of a self absorbed a**clown if he tried, why are we forced to put up with this s**t in a £10K?” After Hellmuth Tweeted about his entrance, Aguiar suggested his next grand performance: “@phil_hellmuth no you’re a self absorbed idiot, every1 h8s u, maybe your next entrance can be on a NASA rocket pointed at sun.” Even the normally quiet Andy Bloch piled onto “The Poker Brat” by playfully Tweeting, “Phil Hellmuth, making his grand entrance, walked into a theatre instead of Empire Casino. Good thing he wasn’t driving a race car.”
While much of the attention was on Hellmuth’s entrance, there was some poker played Thursday and during the morning hours on Friday. Of the Day 1A participants, some who could Tweet about their success included Isabelle Mercier (“Bagging chips! Will be returning on Saturday at noon London time with my 34,725 chips.. Could be better.”), Scott Montgomery (“Felt like crap during day 1a of the wsope main event, and didn’t play much better. wish this cold would go away. 40k going into day 2.”) and Day 1A chip leader Nicolas Levi (“Chip Leader au jour 1A. Titre honorifique mais on pouvait pas mieux demarrer!,” which translates as “Chip Leader Day 1A. Honorary title, but could be better start!”).
For those that weren’t in London for WSOP Europe, the Borgata was the place to be for the final table of the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Poker Open. Of particular note was WSOP Circuit terror Dwyte Pilgrim, who took down the title. Tournament director extraordinaire Matt Savage was on hand, providing his followers with updates via Twitter. “Prematurely @DwytePilgrim celebrates WAAAAY too early after flopping 2 pair and Ofir Mor turns and rivers a higher 2 pair… Wow!,” noted Savage after one of the more exciting hands. “Like the football player that celebrates before crossing the goal line, @DwytePilgrim needs to score first.”
Pilgrim was quite chatty during the final table, as noted by WPT reporter Jessica Welman. “Dwyte just told one of the FTP patch-wearers, Ofir Mor, ‘It’s just my opinion, but I think Full Tilt should’ve picked me,'” Welman reported from the final table. Pilgrim also was caught saying at one point to the remaining players, “Quote @DwytePilgrim “You do know I am #1 in the world!,” according to a Savage Tweet. The bluster must have worked, as Pilgrim won the largest WPT event in history (1,042 players), causing ninth place finisher Lee Childs to Tweet, “So happy 4 Dwight & so glad I was one of the first 2 shake his hand & hug him. Much respect! I hope the broadcast shows all positive things.”
The end of the WPT Borgata Poker Open did cause some problems for one of the best in the poker media, B.J. Nemeth: “I just had a run-in w/ airport security when they wanted me to push my bags thru the X-ray machine before they were ready to scan me.” Apparently Nemeth cracked the code to getting further inspection when he followed up with, “The line that set them off: “If you can’t guarantee the security of my stuff, then I have to guarantee the security of my stuff.” Apparently Nemeth got through the security line in good shape, although he did Tweet, “Security punished me by ‘randomly’ selecting me for a full search of my bags and person.”
For the funniest Tweets of the past few days, we go first to Joe Reitman, who was in a charity event on Wednesday with his better half, Annie Duke. “At poker charity event. Knocked @AnnieDuke out. Then she made me double rebuy to put her back into game. Clearly my all-in call was bad EV.” The charity event must not have gone well for Reitman, as he later chirped, “Dear Joe. Next time a 70yr old woman @ a charity event who limps every hand decides 2 reraise u, even if its a min raise, fold. Do not shove.”
Tiffany Michelle came up with an observation from some of her television viewing, Tweeting, “I haven’t spent much time in air ducts, but from what I see in the movies they seem to be very clean, large spaces, easy for crawling thru.” Lauren Kling decided to hit the cash tables in Las Vegas and found some notoriety: “Just sat down at a cash game at Aria and the dealer thought I was Avril Lavigne… so random!” Finally, Shannon Shorr, in action at the WSOP Europe Main Event, noted the generation gap: “Current topic of conversation at table is South Park. Jeff Lisandro asked, ‘What is South Park?'”
