World Series of Poker Europe … and a Tribute to Amir Vahedi

I arrived a day late for the World Series of Poker Europe in London, as I had made a deep run in the main event in Venice. It caused me to miss the opening £1,000 no-limit hold’em event, but it was well worth it, as I made the televised final table in Venice.

The second event was the £2,500 half no-limit hold’em/half pot-limit Omaha. I was set to play in it when Doylesroom called a press conference/party to announce the newest member of the “Brunson 10” — Chris Moorman. I was asked by the director of promotions to attend, but I told him that I already had missed the first event and couldn’t possibly miss another. He then informed me that there would be an open bar at the event, and of course my sense of responsibility took over and I wound up missing another event.

A few days later, the third event, pot-limit Omaha, started, and again I passed. Pot-limit Omaha is just such a crapshoot that I didn’t feel like rolling the dice. Besides, I was having too much fun partying and playing tourist. My favorite spot was Hampton Court.

This is a truly amazing castle. I can’t recommend it strongly enough if you ever find yourself in the UK. Henry the VIII lived there (among other places) with Jane Seymour (among other wives; he had six, and was an obvious glutton for punishment). This was years before Jane Seymour started her “Open Hearts” collection for Kay Jewelers, and even before Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

I spent my last few days there playing in the main event, obviously. I could write the rest of this column all about that, but I’ll sum it up in the next paragraph and write about something — or, actually, someone — much more important than that.

I had a good amount of chips and got down to within around 20 spots of the money when I took a bad beat (K-K vs. A-Q, all in preflop) that crippled me. I got back up to about 75 percent of average when I lost a race. I got back up again, lost another coin flip, and was out. It occurred to me that if they paid 20 percent of the field instead of 10 percent, I would have many millions of dollars more filling my boxes. Oh, well.

Now, moving on, I’m sure by this time that most of you have heard of the passing of Amir Vahedi. I hope that many of you got to meet him, as he was truly a wonderful, fun-loving man, and great fun to be around. I always loved to see Amir come to my table. It certainly wasn’t because he couldn’t play poker, either, but because I knew that I would spend the next few hours (or however long we were together) talking and laughing with him.

Here is a brief bio of Amir Vahedi: He was born in Tehran, Iran, and served in the Iranian army, fighting Saddam Hussein long before the U.S. ever did. His mother badly wanted him out of the army, as casualties were extremely high in this conflict, so Amir left Iran and bounced from country to country before finally receiving political asylum in the United States.

Amir tried his hand in the business world, owning several businesses before setting his sights on poker. He was named no-limit Texas hold’em player of the year in 2001, and finished second to Men Nguyen in the Card Player 2003 Player of the Year race. In 2003, he made the final table of the main event of the World Series of Poker and finished sixth, for $250,000. Earlier in that Series, he won his first and only WSOP bracelet and $270,000 in another no-limit hold’em event.

Amir also won the $10,000 main event of the third season of the Ultimate Poker Challenge, taking home $181,390. I came in around 15th that year, and remember Amir putting probably the worst beat I’ve ever seen in real time on Vince Van Patten. Vince had busted like 10 players fairly quickly, and had at least triple the chips of anyone else. Well, Amir went on a rush and got close to Vince, when this hand came down:

I believe that Vince had aces, but it may have been kings. Anyway, they put in like four or five raises preflop. Normally in this spot it should be A-A vs. K-K. So, the flop comes Q-6-2 rainbow, and they proceed to put in another five bets before Amir moves all in and Vince calls. I guess Amir was trying to represent pocket queens, but Vince wasn’t buying it. So, Amir turns over his hand, and Matt Savage announces that it’s 10-9 offsuit, and the room explodes in laughter. Well, it quieted down a bit when an 8 came on the turn, and you could have heard a pin drop when a jack came on the river, giving Amir a straight!

Amir was a bit of a crazy man in tournaments, as that story illustrates, but there was definitely a method to his madness. He described it himself in this quote: “I am not afraid to put my money out there, and sometimes you just need to let these players know who’s boss. You wanna mess with me, it’s going to cost you. Sometimes you have to be willing to die in order to live in these tournaments. That is basically it.”

Amir won 25 titles and almost $3.2 million in tournaments in his lifetime, and was only two spots behind me on the lifetime tournament winnings list. Amir also gained notoriety as a celebrity poker player after he began tutoring Ben Affleck in no-limit hold’em. The first lessons that Ben took were a birthday gift from then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, who later accused him of being a problem gambler. (OK there, J.Lo.) Amir was also a spokesman for Doylesroom for about a year.

Amir is survived by two brothers, Masoud and Sayed; a sister; two daughters, Chanel and Erika; and a son, Albaro. I had a chance to play in a charity event with Amir a few days before his death, and I can assure you, besides being a talkative, fun-loving guy, Amir was always respectful and a gentleman. He will be remembered by anyone who ever played with him. He was loved by most and respected by all. R.I.P., my friend.

Todd Brunson has been a professional poker player for more than 20 years. While primarily a cash-game player, he still has managed to win 18 major tournaments, for more than $3.5 million. He has won one bracelet and cashed 25 times at the World Series of Poker. You can play with Todd online at DoylesRoom.com or live at his tournament, The Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge, in Big Fork, Montana. Check his website, ToddBrunson.com, for details.