Bellagio, Commerce, and a Funny Anecdote

In mid-June, Bellagio hosted a $2,500 limit hold'em event. A total of 78 players showed up to vie for the $250,000 in guaranteed prize money. With $5,000 in tournament chips, everyone was able to play for some time – except me. I busted out halfway through the first day. Peter Costa from England won the event and $112,000. Others at the final table were R.A. Head, David Benyamine, Daniel Barnett, Andy Bloch, Victor Perches, Keith Lehr, Steve Flicker, and Diego Cordovez. Most Americans do not know Peter, but he has won more than 200 tournaments in England. Shortly before the Bellagio event, he won the opening limit hold'em event at the California State Poker Championship at Commerce Casino. From now on, Bellagio will have a weekly tournament on Fridays with a $1,000 buy-in. Bellagio is now guaranteeing $100,000 to the winner of the monthly events.

After Bellagio's event, I flew to L.A. to participate in the California State Poker Championship. The no-limit hold'em championship was changed from a $1,500 buy-in event to one with a $500 buy-in and three levels of rebuys. This gave more players the opportunity to play. I loved it, and the prize pool was much larger than last year. Mel Weiner won, beating a tough field. Other players at the final table were Scott Brayer (we played our first Las Vegas tournament at the same time, and he won), Tab Thiptinnakon, Gary Pollack, John Juanda (does he make every championship final table?), Randy Holland, Arthur Dill, Doug Patrick, and Ramzi Khairallan.

One evening after Chris Ferguson, Perry Friedman, and Phil Ivey busted out of an event, they decided to go to Hollywood and mingle with the locals. As they passed the hip shoe store Shockers, Phil grabbed Chris and dragged him into the store. A salesperson asked Phil if they needed help, and Phil pointed at Chris' dirty white tennis shoes with holes in them and said, "What do you think? This guy needs a lot of help." After Phil bought new shoes for Chris, they tried to put his old shoes on display, but that didn't last long. As they left Shockers, Phil laughed and said, "Can we do anything about his pants?"

Hustler Casino will host the Grand Slam of Poker tournament July 19-31. Check out the Hustler Casino ad on Page 27 to learn more about the Grand Slam Points Winner award. Am I physically qualified?

As I am writing this column, I am at Casinos Europa in Costa Rica. I will write more about this experience next time, but I now want to mention the parimutuel betting. Matt "Sunshine" Savage is taking wagers on individual players. For example, I bet $20 on Daniel Negreanu, $20 on Diego Cordovez, and $40 on the field. The field is simply anyone who wasn't bet on. Because lots of people bet on Daniel (I don't know why), if he won the event, a bettor would receive $54 for a $10 ticket, $27 for second place, and $9 for third place. Daniel let us down with his fourth-place finish. Luckily for me, the D-Train won and I picked up $380. I hope this type of parimutuel betting becomes more popular in America.