Monday night’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game between the Connecticut Huskies and the Butler Bulldogs captured the attention of millions of sports fans as well as the crème of the poker world.
Recent Wynn Classic champion Tim West perhaps put the battle for the title best when he Tweeted, “So excited for this game… let’s go baby!”
Of course, many of the top pros had wagers running on the game. “I wanna gamble on the game,” UB.com pro Bryan Devonshire Tweeted to his followers before the teams took to the court. “Anybody want to bet $100? Fair line, I’ll take either side.” Randal Flowers got his bets in early, chirping, “Bet Butler +3 and under 131.5. let us gogogo!”
Another player with a bet on the NCAA Championship was Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Gordon, who Tweeted at halftime, “Thankfully took the under… Now locked barring quadruple overtime… Now just have to pull Butler +3 through!”
The game itself was considered by many analysts to be one of the ugliest in recent memory and poker’s elite also noted this. “WTF is going on with the scoring in this NCAA Championship game,” asked PokerStars front man David Williams as Butler took a 22-19 halftime lead. Christian “charder30” Harder agreed with Williams: “This is an ugly game, but I love it,” as he was pulling for Butler.
Erick Lindgren, who played basketball before poker became his calling, blamed the NCAA: “Maybe if they actually played the game in a basketball arena, the kids could make a few more shots.” The Final Four was held in Reliant Stadium in Houston, the home of the National Football League’s Houston Texans, and many analysts believed that sight lines to the rims could have had an effect on the players’ ability to shoot.
As the second half played out, the Huskies were able to right the ship and pull away, ultimately winning the game 53-41. Devonshire Tweeted about his failed bet, “What a joke of a game, but that’s why we love college sports right? Where y’all want the dough sent?”
Several other poker players pointed out Butler’s futility on offense, as its team set a record for the lowest field goal percentage ever in a Championship game. “Hard to win when u shoot under 20%,” Jason Mercier Tweeted. “Congrats to UConn.”
Two of poker’s top pros, Jonathan Aguiar and Lindgren, had similar ideas with their Tweets. “I gotta think that 4 of my out of shape poker friends could shoot higher than 18.8% vs UConn,” Aguiar surmised over Twitter. Lindgren Tweeted much the same thing: “Every rec league team in America is thinking they could have won this thing.”
Once the National Championship game was over, all that was left was counting the bets and finishing off the brackets. “Congratulations to my beautiful wife for owning me in our NCAA tourney brackets and picking UConn to win it all,” Lee Childs reluctantly told the Twitterverse after the game. After Doyle Brunson told him he had wagered on Butler (“Sounds like u had Butler. Me too…barf, barf.”), Lindgren let “Texas Dolly” know, “No, I had the right side for once lol.”
Williams could only Tweet, “Thank you @philivey for the UConn pick. You haven’t let me down yet.”
Putting the close on this year’s NCAA college basketball tournament was 2006 WSOP Main Event final tablist Doug Kim, a fan of the defending champion Duke Blue Devils. Citing recruiting issues that have plagued Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun during the season, Kim Tweeted, “A friend reminded me that the one plus about UConn winning is that the win will inevitably be vacated and Duke will remain reigning champs.”
