The Entrance

The main event at the World Series of Poker is a spectacle unlike any other in poker. With thousands of people playing and tens of millions of dollars up for grabs, it’s hard to get that shine on an individual level. Making a deep run definitely helps, as does being a past champion or poker luminary. One other way to get some camera time is to arrange for it. Two people took this approach at the WSOP this year and they went about it in similar ways with differing public opinion.

Everyone who is reading this can guess who planned one of the entrances. From being carried in like Caesar, to crashing a race car in the parking lot, Hellmuth has made plenty of “impressive” entrances to the main event. This year, he showed up dressed as Thor with a cadre of vaguely superhero-themed ladies-in-waiting as accompaniment. Hellmuth’s entrances, like his tirades, have the feeling of look-at-me narcissism that I associate with the class clown in high school that people are laughing at, not with. He’s making himself the center of attention in a room full of people who are mostly trying not to stick out.

Obviously, this strategy, both the grand entrances and the tirades, have hastened his rise to the top of the poker Q-ratings. He’s either the biggest or second biggest star in poker and he wants to be clear, crystal clear, that everyone in the vicinity knows that fact. I should know. In my second-ever WSOP event, I played for a big chunk of day 1 with Phil and we both made the final table together. 14 years ago, he was the same as now when the cameras were on him and when they weren’t. In fact, after I busted him, he went to the camera and uttered his now infamous line of, “If it weren’t for luck, I guess I’d win them all.”

Randall Emmett is a well-established movie producer with credits like Lone Survivor, End of Watch, and Mississippi Grind. He also plays some poker. I was playing my day 1 at the Rio right next to the late-registration table when a marching band and a bunch of showgirls filed into the room while playing the theme song to Rocky (which he didn’t produce). I expected to see the towering form of Phil Hellmuth but was instead surprised to see Emmett walk up to the registration desk to get his chips and seat assignment. A couple of songs later and he found his seat.

Then, on day two, he took the microphone as we were all coming back from break and announced that as a sign of condolence for being loud and brash the previous day, he hired showgirls to pass out ice cream to everyone in the room. A wonderful move and I could hear in the murmurings around me that it ingratiated himself to everyone nearby that was annoyed at his entrance the previous day.

To me, the clear play on Hellmuth’s grand entrances made Emmett’s moves more endearing and more of a commentary on the absurdity of poker as an event. There have been lots of people that have tried silly things to stick out. Cymbals guy, William Kassouf, UncleRonAA, and many others have come up with a shtick that doesn’t quite stick in the mainstream. Emmett, with his entrance, I think both made fun of Hellmuth and bigged himself up enough that people took notice of him while also being self-deprecating, playing the underdog with the Rocky theme.

That, I think, is the difference that makes all the difference. Emmett is playing a character when he makes this entrance, Hellmuth is trying to project his character when he does his. People are laughing WITH Emmett, they’re laughing AT Hellmuth. Phil’s inability to see or know the difference is probably what makes him into a great poker player. His seeming inability to self-reflect and self-censor, as evidenced by these entrances and the way he treated James Campbell on day two of the same main event, is what fuels his “they’re out to get me” shtick and his ego.

The entrance in Emmett’s case is an effect of a thought-out approach to how he wants to be seen in the poker world. The entrance in Hellmuth’s case is an effect of how he sees himself. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG