TV Brings 309 Players to Legends Championship

As I walked into The Bicycle Casino during the Legends of Poker tournament, the first thing I noticed was a huge line to get into the $5,000 championship event. Were all of these people actually in line to play in the championship event? Two years ago when I played in it, there were only 35 players, all of whom seemed to be world champions. I heard someone say, "Even Ben Affleck is playing." Does this mean that more celebrities will be playing in these World Poker Tour events? I wouldn't be surprised. I am still waiting to hear someone like Tom Cruise say, "I started at Erik Seidel's table. He seemed to be pretty good, but he wasn't as smooth as John Juanda." Just give it time. When Tournament Director Denny Williams announced that 309 players had entered and first place was going to be around $600,000, I heard many players say there wasn't any chance they'd miss another WPT event.

All of the hoopla was great until I busted out, and there weren't any flights home that evening. So, I went back to the hotel and pouted for a while. I am usually bummed out when I bust out of a championship event, but I told myself there would be many more opportunities like this one in the future. I went to bed, and decided that if any of my close friends were still in the tournament, I would sweat them at the final table. When I awoke, I went to the CardPlayer website to check out the standings. To my surprise, one of my great friends Paul Phillips was still in. The reason I was surprised was that there were so many players, I didn't know he had entered the event. The next thing I knew was that Huck Seed busted out seventh and the final table was set for the following day.

Phil Laak, Freddy Bonyadi, Chip Jett, T.J. Cloutier, Paul Phillips, and Mel Judah were the six players left. In the beginning, it looked like Mel was going to be the first one eliminated, because he was short on chips, and that T.J. and Paul would get heads up. I was wrong, because Mel and Paul played heads up after T.J. became a little unlucky. The final hand took place when Mel was the slight chip leader. After the river card, there was a 3,4,5, and 6 on the board. This meant that a deuce or a 7 would give either player a straight. Out of nowhere, Mel moved in all of his chips and Paul jumped out of his seat. This was a nightmare situation that Paul was in. He had to have a deuce to react this way. Can you fold a deuce in this spot when heads up and put yourself in a 3-1 chip disadvantage? Paul ended up calling (as would I in that spot), and Mel, having a 7, stood up with his arms in the air; it was over. Congrats, Mel! You are now a legend.

After the tournament I had the opportunity to speak with some of the staff at The Bicycle Casino about the tournament. I am pleased to announce that they will make the event even better next year by planning ahead for a huge field and making the necessary adjustments to make everyone happy.