The Russ Hamilton Golf Tourney - Wendeen Wins!

I had so much fun at the last Russ Hamilton Golf Tournament that I need to tell y'all about it, including a key hand that Wendeen Eolis played with four players left in the Card Player Cruises Caribbean cruise freeroll that was held during the golf tourney. Let's start by talking about the golf. With high-limit, medium-limit, and casual poker players in attendance, you could play for any amount of money you wanted. "Woody" wanted to have a bet with everyone in attendance, even if it was for only $20 a man! On the other hand, Layne Flack and I played for almost $10,000 a hole in a memorable scramble match against Ralph Rudd and Jack Ryan that Layne won for our team by hitting a 225-yard approach shot onto the green of the par-5 18th hole. We played three beautiful golf courses over three days, including a final round at the world-famous Edgewood Golf Course on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Russ always arranges a "theme" party for the last night, and the theme last time was the "1920s." Here we were in a hotel convention room with everyone wearing "Roaring '20s" outfits. Layne Flack even traded clothing with Roxanne Rodman (Blaire's wife), but she looked a heck of a lot better than he did in that black dress! What does it say about Layne that he wore that dress all night long (well past 4 a.m., anyway)? And what was the deal with Daniel Negreanu playing terrible golf and missing the theme party, but winning $20,000 in a Chinese poker game? Who cares how well you golf as long as you play Chinese poker well!

During the party, Russ was handing out all kinds of cash prizes and he asked me to take the microphone (as if I didn't want the thing!) and give away some more. I asked everyone to do his or her best impression of a golfer, any golfer, and the crowd would decide whose was the best. I did Ralph Rudd putting. I swear that this guy hits a 2-foot putt and jumps up in the air after he "bashes" the ball! He was an easy guy to poke fun at, especially after he wound up lining his pockets with my money, in spite of the fact that he missed several putts from within 2 feet (true story). Roxanne won the contest by doing Tiger Woods stalking a putt, right down to the way that he cups his hands over his cap while he lines it up.

After this contest, the poker tournament began. At stake was a cabin on a Card Player Caribbean cruise, worth about $1,800. The game was no-limit hold'em, and there was a lot of side betting going on. Russ bet $500 on Wendeen to win $2,500, and $1,000 to win $3,500 on me when there were 14 players left. When we hit the final table, I bluffed all in from the small blind with 10-7offsuit, but I forgot that a lot of the players there didn't play poker, and the big blind called me with J-3 offsuit and wound up busting me with jack high! Nice play, Phil, you can't even beat jack high for all of the money! The Travel Channel was there, as was Maxim Golf Magazine, to cover the event for the media. The story in Maxim turned out to be pretty good, as did the Travel Channel's special. Wendeen Eolis was there as a consultant to Dick Atkins for his script on high-stakes gambling at the golf course.

With four players left and Dick Atkins on her shoulder the entire time, Wendeen won the following pot – in fact, it was so big that it almost ensured her a victory: The same player who busted me raised it with Q-2 from the button, and Wendeen called with K-J in the small blind. The flop came K-Q-3 rainbow, and Wendeen made a small bet, thinking that her opponent would raise her if he had her beat. When he just called, Wendeen was pretty sure that she had the best hand, because she had noticed that he always raised it on the flop if he had a real hand. A 6 came off on the turn for K-Q-3-6, and Wendeen decided to check in order to win the maximum amount of money on the hand. Her opponent moved all in and Wendeen quickly called. When an 8 came on the end, Wendeen claimed a pot that had almost 80 percent of the chips in it, and she went on to win. As it turned out, Wendeen won more money on side bets than the value of the cruise.

Russ Hamilton is having another golf tournament in Aruba (a little island off the coast of Venezuela) Oct. 7-14. Everyone is invited, whether you play poker, golf, or neither. I will be there, and you can learn more about it or sign up for it by going to PokerEvents.com or contacting Bonnie Damiano at (702) 655-0919. By the time you read this, Wendeen will have been through massive surgeries and expects to be feeling great. Great attitude, Wendeen! We will all be rooting and praying for you.

I hope you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.

Editor's note: Play $4-$8 limit hold'em with Phil Hellmuth at UltimateBet.com on table "PhilHellmuth." To read more Hand of the Week columns, or to learn more about Phil, go to PhilHellmuth.com.