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Close, so close, at the 2006 WSOP
Imagine that there are maybe a thousand fans watching the two of us playing heads-up poker, even though there are only about 300 seats in the whole arena. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, movie star Shannon Elizabeth, and many other poker greats and notables are in attendance. ESPN is there filming, and the worldwide poker press is reporting on the spectacle. The scene is electric.
That was where I sat as I went for my would-be historic, record-tying 10th win at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). My wife had flown in for the final table, and my family, my friends and poker fans all over the world were watching the CardPlayer.com coverage on the Internet.
Too bad I failed. Again. With 608 people to beat, I had beaten 607. The event was the $5,000 buy-in no-limit Hold ’em tournament, and first place was over $820,000. I did manage to win $423,000 for second place, and I did set the all-time WSOP record for most times (52) finishing in the money. (The money is great, and the record is great, but I sure would have liked to grab that bracelet!) As for winning my 10th bracelet and tying the all-time WSOP win record with Chan and Brunson, I was so close.
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In New Orleans, Robin in Batman
Here was the lineup for the fifth “Celebrity Poker Showdown,” shown on Bravo on June 28: Macy Gray (Grammy Award-winning singer), Joy Behar (“The View”), Christopher Meloni, Andy Dick (“bad boy” and actor), and Robin Tunney (“Prison Break”). We shot the whole series in New Orleans, and one thing is certain, the partying in the French Quarter, although not as gigantic a scale as in the past, continues around the clock! The French Quarter, fortunately, was not engulfed during Hurricane Katrina, which means that many historic landmarks were left standing and in good shape. But throughout much of the rest of the city the Katrina damage has not been cleaned up, and there are many thousands of now worthless homes and cars that are just sort of left there to linger.
Dave Foley and I were happy to be co-hosting “Poker,” especially in light of the fact that so much of the show focuses on New Orleans, and the $1 million prize pool goes directly to New Orleans-based charities. What’s more, all of the charities’ phone numbers were given onscreen throughout the series, and one can hope that that will raise several million dollars more. As for our fifth show, Foley picked Andy Dick to win (out of loyalty, since they were co-stars on the hit TV show “News Radio”), and I picked Robin Tunney to win, but the celebrities all thought Macy Gray was the favorite. As the show progressed, I could see that Gray was the best Hold ’em player in this heat.
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A Key Hand in New Orleans
It’s a mad, mad world on Bourbon Street in New Orleans right now! But there’s no joking here; there’s still an unthinkable measure of destruction in New Orleans, with thousands of destroyed houses and cars still just sort of lying there, existing. So, when “Celebrity Poker Showdown” was set to shoot in New Orleans, the organizers decided to have all of the celebrities choose New Orleans-based charities, and the prize pool was increased to $1 million. In addition to donating all that cash to these charities, “Showdown” also posted each charity’s telephone number on the telecast during the show.
In the first three shows of “Showdown” (shown on Bravo every Wednesday night at 9, with the finale on July 5), my co-host Dave Foley correctly predicted the winner (though he’s famous for failing to pick them). He correctly picked Jason Alexander (“Seinfeld”), Michael Ian Black (“The Pleasure of Your Company”), and Ida Siconolfi (the bravotv.com winner) to win their heats and go on to the “Showdown” finals, and got it right all three shows. This past week’s show (June 21) featured Mario Cantone (“Sex and the City”), Jordan Peele (“MADtv”), Keegan-Michael Key (“MADtv”), Jenna Fischer (“The Office”), and Rocco DiSpirito (“The Restaurant”), and what a show it was! Foley picked Cantone and I picked Fischer.
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Ida’s New Orleans Experience
Fred “The Wonder Years” Savage jumped off the stage in New Orleans to dispense high-fives among the audience members. Savage was recently playing heads-up poker on “Celebrity Poker Showdown” on Bravo and felt he needed an energy boost. Losing hand after hand and sporting a hangdog look, he needed a break, and decided to use the audience and its energy as an ally. And where a minute before he looked like a beaten man, now he had the audience going bonkers. And a smile on his face. What a scene a bit later, Savage literally being lifted into the air by a fan, the audience celebrating raucously and screaming wildly, as he won a $20,000 pot against Ida Siconolfi (the Bravo online tournament winner)!
That heat, the third of these shows on “Showdown,” had begun with five players: Savage, Siconolfi, Jennifer “J-Till” Tilly (“Bound”), Doug E. Doug (“Cool Runnings” and “Cosby”), and Brett Butler (“Grace Under Fire”), who were all gunning to win this heat and go on to the five-player finale, where “Showdown” would give away $900,000; with $500,000 to the winner’s New Orleans-based charity. The favorite to win this heat had to be semi-pro poker player and Oscar-winner J-Till. So I picked her to win, and my co-host Dave Foley picked Siconolfi to win (after all, she did beat 10,000 people in an online poker tournament to qualify).
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A Black Day in New Orleans
Here are a few hands from the second heat of the June 7 “Celebrity Poker Showdown” on Bravo (which I co-host along with comedian Dave Foley). Shot in New Orleans, all of our celebrities donated their prize money ($1 million total) to charities dedicated to the New Orleans area. Show No. 1, which I wrote about last week, showed me that many of the celebrities have learned how to play a solid game of no-limit Hold ’em. Jason Alexander (“Seinfeld”) beat out Bryan Cranston (“Malcolm in the Middle”) for the first heat win. (Foley, famous for never picking a winner, actually picked the winner, Alexander! I had picked Cranston.)
Our five celebrity guests on show No. 2 were Greg Behrendt (“He’s Just Not That into You”), Andrea Martin (in soon to be released movies “Young Triffie’s Been Made Away with” and “Black Christmas”), Kim Coles (“Living Single’), Jorge Garcia (“Lost”) and Michael Ian Black (director of the upcoming movie “The Pleasure of your Company”). We both picked Black, but Foley made me pick someone else, so I chose Coles.
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‘Seinfeld’ vs. ‘Malcolm in the Middle’
While shooting “Celebrity Poker Showdown” in New Orleans (shameless plug: Wednesday at 9 p.m. on Bravo for the next five weeks) I found out that some of these celebrities can really play no-limit Hold ’em at a high level. In Week 1, Jason Alexander (George Costanza on “Seinfeld”) and Bryan Cranston (the dad on “Malcolm in the Middle”) really brought some game to their five-player heat, while playing along with Susie Essman (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Jamie Bamber (“Battlestar Galactica”), and Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules,” “Andromeda”).
Alexander and Cranston dominated. On air, I picked Cranston to win (Dave Foley, my co-host, picked Alexander), though I acknowledged that Alexander was a terrific player as well. I had given Alexander lessons, along with my books and DVDs, on the TV show “Extra” a few years back; and I picked him to finish high as well.
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