You’ve Got To Have A Gaga Or Two

This year’s World Series of Poker Europe was short and sweet: five events, millions of pounds in prize pools, and tables stacked with representatives of the global poker elite both live and online. Line-ups including household names like Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, and Phil Ivey alongside online sensations Viktor “I’m not Isildur1” Blom, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan provided enough action to satisfy the legion of fans and reporters. They also provided enough “I’ve seen that guy on TV” moments to keep the spectators who’d wandered in to the busy central London Empire Casino happy all the way through to James Bord’s victory in the main event, which rounded off the Series with a near riot.
Speaking of entertaining the public, another Phil Hellmuth late entrance attracted a crowd in the square outside like Lady Gaga themed-flypaper. A full marching band accompanied the “Poker Brat” to the doors of the Empire Cinema next door, then waited while he corrected his coordinates and headed to his seat in the Casino. He might not have lasted too long in the main event itself, but the very fact his spectacle is impossible to ignore proves the point that self-promotion is as important at the top of this industry as results (of which he does have a good few) and coverage by peers and press alike. One media outlet did compile a video asking people outside if they knew who Phil Hellmuth was, and their confusion was understandable; the guess of “mountain climber” was an imaginative shot in the dark.
Making their appearance like technological lapdogs in multitaskers’ handbags were several gadgets-of-the-moment, the iPads. Priyan de Mel, Toby Lewis, and Dan Shak are just a small selection of players who, with their combined download might, managed to bring the media’s Internet connection to a standstill and force a secret change of password.
The days of the book or Rubik’s cube or subtle texting at the table seem to have been superseded by the need to check the scores in the big game one has bet heavily on (understandable), update one’s legion of Twitter followers of every tumbleweed-like thought that floats through one’s head and then find out if anyone Tweets back @it, or watch a tiny TV.
These were not the only self-chosen distractions from the £2,500 no-limit hold’em six max (won by Phil Laak), £1,000 no-limit hold’em (won by Scott Shelley), £5,000 pot-limit Omaha (won by bracelet collector Jeffrey Lisandro), the £10,000 heads-up event, or £10,000 main event.
Phil Ivey wins the award for “Most Blatant Lack of Interest in a Big Buy-in Tournament” for his stellar division of attention in the pot-limit Omaha game as Gus Hansen joined him at his side table, pulling up a dealer’s chair to play Chinese poker after the dinner break on day one.
The autograph-seeking Ivey fans behind the cordon would probably have swooned at such a chance but there is one rule for them and one for the “Great Dane” when it comes to railbird boundaries.
These two were to meet again across the felt soon thereafter; while Ivey crashed out of the Omaha and cashed in 19th in the main event, Hansen went on to win his first bracelet in the heads up event.
He took down his £288,409 after a set of final matches against Jim Collopy which was so hard fought it had to break in the middle tied one-all to allow both of them to participate in the main event. Hansen described heads-up play as “really gruelling” but having started out on a quest for WSOP gold over 15 years ago, he was delighted to finally claim it after taking down Neil Channing, Andrew Feldman, and Phil Ivey in a rail-rousing match in which Hansen hit a three-outer to stay in and start his smooth run through to the money and beyond.
Triple crown winner Roland de Wolfe was one of several players who only played the main event and on day four came back as the short stack, holding on to it all the way through to fourth place at the final table.
Oddly both the top and bottom stacks at the start of the previous day made the final nine — at the other end being Ronald Lee, who started off with a double bustout of Marc Inizan and Brian Powell, then finished off start-of-day chip leader Dan Fleyshman in seventh place before eliminating Danny Steinberg as well.
His table clearance continued as he busted Nicolas Levi in fifth too, but having personally seen off over half the final table his form took a downturn as the quieter players in the earlier levels, Fabrizio Baldassari and James Bord, turned it up a notch and started to take bites out of the early big stack.
Bord, after an initial double up which seemed to pull a switch over on the rail, initiating a constant chant of, “Bordy! Bordy! Bordy!” kept up with new leader and third-place eliminator Baldassari, holding preflop for another late-stage double heads up with his A-K against Q-8, which could have sealed the deal the other way for the Italian.
As it was, it was hard to imagine the Bord supporters not being a distraction; the bar was literally one foot away from the back of the crowd and you know when people start singing, “Walking ALONG, singing a SONG, walking in a Bordy Wonderland!” the volume dial is only turning one way as the night progresses.
Not to be outdone, in Baldassari’s corner was a small but vocal rail and a beautiful girlfriend who supplied him with scene-stealing kisses when big pots came his way too.
Bord finally rose to victory on a tidal wave of rail emotion, springing out of his chair like the floor had been electrified and group-hugging the supporters who would have rushed the stage if the security guards hadn’t propped up the barriers.
Normally a mixed-game cash specialist (playing at high-stakes like Baldassari), Bord admitted he’d needed to adapt and had found his summer Vegas experience a tad frustrating, and was nearly overcome with surprise and delight at having taken down his first bracelet and £830,401.
He’d apparently received tournament tips from Sam Trickett, and been tirelessly supported by fans who watchers of the TV coverage won’t be able to ignore. You can’t buy that kind of following with a double decker bus full of Lady Gagas. ♠

Jen Mason is a part of BlackBeltPoker.com. She is responsible for its live tournament coverage in the UK and abroad.