Anthrax in Aruba!

I am proud to say that Scott Ian is an UltimateBet.com pro. Ian is a rock star who plays rhythm guitar in two bands (Anthrax and Pearl), a comic-book writer (Lobo), and, of course, a professional-level online and live-action poker player. At the 2009 World Series of Poker, Ian found himself juggling a few balls. On Sunday night, Ian landed in Vegas directly from Germany — and an Anthrax concert — and he immediately went to the Rio Hotel to sign up for the WSOP main event. He made it through day one on Monday, then played day two on Wednesday. After making it through day two, he slept for all of 90 minutes and then hopped on a 6 a.m. flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a show Thursday night with Anthrax. After the show, he again slept for 90 minutes and hopped on another 6 a.m. flight on Friday, this time back to Vegas for day three. Luckily for Ian, there were no flight delays on the way back to Vegas (he went through Denver), but there was a lot of stress. A flight delay could have cost him 50 percent of his chips, or more.

Ian somehow made it through day three on Friday, and when he hit his room on Friday night, he completely passed out! Day four began at noon on Saturday, and Ian managed to make it to the money bubble (the final 650 or so in a field of 6,494 players), where the action became interminably slow. You see, when they were three players away from the money, they began dealing hand-for-hand, which means that every table had to finish its hand before the next hand was dealt. With more than 70 tables, they were playing about eight hands per hour, whereas previously they were dealing about 30 hands per hour. This is when Ian literally started sleeping between hands! Did I mention that Ian has never done drugs? In any case, he somehow pushed through and made the money, and busted out late on day four.

I ran into Ian again in Aruba in early October, at the UltimateBet.com Aruba Poker Classic. On day one, he was playing textbook, super-tight poker and was cruising along, when he overheard the chip leader at the table, who had gone from 90,000 in chips down to 75,000, say, “OK, I’m shutting it down. I’m on a bit of a losing streak, and I don’t want to lose any more chips!” Ian was a little short, but had a great tight image, and he decided that he would try to bluff the chip leader. Most of us wouldn’t think of trying to bluff the chip leader, but after that comment, doing so seemed like a logical move.

About 15 minutes later, Ian was in the big blind when the chip leader raised from under the gun to 950 to go with 10-10, and everyone else folded; then, Ian made it 3,100 to go with A-8. The chip leader called, the flop came Q Q 6, and both players checked. The turn card was a jack, Ian bet 5,100, and the chip leader snap-called. Ian felt certain that he was beat, but he thought he could bluff the river. The river was an 8. Now, Ian “shoved” for roughly 12,000, and the chip leader tanked for three minutes, eventually calling the clock on himself! Then the chip leader asked the floorperson if he could turn his hand faceup, in order to try to get a read on Ian. The floorman correctly ruled that he could show his hand, but when the hand was completed, he would receive a 20-minute penalty. Ian said, “At this point, I didn’t say a word or make a motion; I was Mount Rushmore!” The chip leader folded, showing his 10-10, and Ian flashed his 8 as he mucked his cards. Most of us would have checked down after the 8 hit, figuring that we may well have the best hand, but I give maximum credit to Ian here for firing away and forcing the chip leader to fold his 10-10. Ian played this hand masterfully.

Learn more about Phil by going to his website, www.PhilHellmuth.com, and visit his webstore at www.PokerBrat.com.