Tournament of Champions
 

Did anyone else see WSOP Tournament of Champions on ESPN tonight? I'm not sure if it was new or not. When I tuned in the table was down to Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, and probably a few others that I just don't remember seeing.

Anyways it was a winner take all $2 million tournament. In the end Annie Duke beat Hellmuth heads up which sent him cursing down a dark corridor. It was an interesting heads up match where multiple times both people flopped top pair and the kicker was the deciding card. I've never really been a fan of Annie Duke and she did have some luck in the tourney, but by the end she seemed to have Phil quite baffled.

Awesome.
 

Sounds like it was a great tournament... too bad I missed it last night.

you didnt see it right after their coverage of the main event ended? i figured everybody here saw it. It was a really good event, but i won't believe for a second that no deal was made

Maybe Annie wouldn't deal?

Can't you just see her dancing around the room in front of the other 9 of them like an elementary school pixie screaching "IIII beat you, III beat you!".....

With brother Howard standing there, red in the face, shrugging his shoulders and saying "I know, I know, I have to deal with this EVERY time I lose ANYTHING to her :confused: "

I'm sure there was a deal.
 

There had to be a deal... but I doubt ESPN knew anything about it. They were paying for a winner, not a 3-4 way tie. There's nothing glamorous about three champions; besides, in this fast-food nation, we want to see one winner, a big payoff, and drama.

I think they like the whole idea though: good ratings, etc - and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw another TOC after next year's WSOP.

They've set up their own poker tour, sponsored by Harrah's, that concludes with the tournament of champions next year. They are having tournaments at Harrah's casinos around the country throughout next year, all of which we be filmed and televised by ESPN

"In 2005, the World Series of Poker begins its evolution from a month-long special event into a year-round sport," said Ginny Shanks, senior vice president of acquisition marketing for Harrah's. "The road to the World Series of Poker Championship will be a challenging and arduous one. But unlike professional football, basketball, golf or auto racing, even the greenest of amateurs can mount a challenge for the title."

Players will earn points based on their performance in the circuit tournaments and the World Series of Poker. The top 100 point-earners will receive a free invitation to the 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, where a single winner will take home a top prize of $2 million.

Looks like you have to earn your invite this year....

Link to circuit schedule on WSOP site<daydream>...Wonder if I could win a sat into an event in Atlantic City????</daydream>

i like the idea of turning the toc into an event that you have to qualify for. it just makes sense, both for the players and for espn.

all of the rhetoric over at rgp about who should and who should not have been in the event seemed a little bit ridiculous (even though i agreed with daniel), but with an expanded field hopefully there will be significantly less bitching.

i also think that a deal was made. i think that annie and phil defintely chopped up the first place money, and that at that point they were playing for pride alone. neither one of them was going to tank the heads up match, so i dont think that espn should really have any complaints even if a deal was made. it was still some great poker, and even better entertainment.

I know ESPN didn't want a deal made, but I also have to agree that one was made.

Especially after it got down to the final two and Annie quite flippantly asks Phil if he's ready for the heads up match. Just didn't seem like at that point you'd be so nonchalant when there's 2mil up for grabs and one of you gets zero.

I have no evidence supporting my claim however.

Annie Duke is a piece of shit who got extremely lucky , but think of it this way it was a freeroll sitngo, I know alot of people who could have one that thing if they had gotten half the lucky breaks she did.

I'd have to agree that espn probably made them sign something not to make deals because that would just take the raw competitiveness out of the tournament. but then again we are talking about poker players. also, phil seemed pretty mad that he lost, so he was either acting or really mad. at times i was convinced the whole thing was rigged, the crazy hands that happended were amazing: doyle almost flopping quads in the same hand howard had KK, his sister had AQs and made a flush, and ivey went all in and made top pair on the flop. interesting tournament that is a must-see.

TOC was great, but Annie didn't actually win 2 million. She made a share with other players that probably would have the 4 splittinga lower ammount (maybe 350K) and the winner getting 600K ( Annie).

Annie said on 2+2 (on somewhere else) that she sold 20% of herself to friends and family before the tourney.

Excellent
 

I saw this a few weeks ago. Annie was on Letterman talking about it also. She definalty DOMINATED Phil. She got into his head and punked him. Not saying who is better long term, but this night belonged to her! The showing the 2nd Pair trick was priceless! It really set Phil off!

I like Annie alot. She is one of my favorite players. Might be because she is cute, but I like the personality she shows on TV and she seems like a really great player!

how do you sell part of yourself in a freeroll?

Simple. Your family/friends pay you $x for x% of your winnings.

In Annie's case, there was $2,000,000 up for grabs and 10 players, so with an even playing field, each person would theoretically be worth $200,000 (like if they did an even 10 way split). If she sold 20% of herself, she'd be selling $40k of value.... She may have done this as a discount (or even a premium (yeah, right)) though. So, maybe she sold 20% of herself for $20k. This way, she knows she's getting 20k regardless of how she finishes and he friends/family would get either nothing or $400,000 if she wins.

I totally made up these numbers, of course, but you get the idea.

that seems like something that is on the border of being unethical. i guess if there are people who willingly enter into the agreement, then it is fine, but in general it seems like taking a free entry into a tournament and then selling pieces of yourself is a bit strange.

i wonder how much she got for 20% of herself? i would assume that they put odds on her winning the event, and that they then calculated the percentages based upon that.

It seems very wrong to sell yourself to family/friends. I mean its one thing to go to a colleague and say "Hey, want a shot at this?", but to run up to daddy is a bit different story...

Defendant

well the 2+2 post she said she sold 20% of herself which would of been like $40,000 to her friends and family... whats wrong with that? she is giving people she knows and loves a chance to win money and she will still be getting something regardless so its win-win really.

Unless of course she lost, in which case it would hve been lose-lose.

I imagine she sold herself for a discount.... just a guess.

Well...regardless, the rumor thats been going around RGP was she split 50/50 with Helmuth, even though I doubt that for the above reasons.

Defendant

the new issue of cardplayer clears up once and for all whether there was a deal or not....read negreanu's article

I'm out of town, so I'm nowhere near my issue. Can you sum it up for us? Actually, mabe I can find the article online...

Bingo:

Negreanu wrote that everyone else wanted to make a deal, so presumably those who survived him in the tournament chopped the money.

Anyone know if they showed every hand Annie and Phil played heads-up or was it edited? It seems like Annie caught ridiculous cards, although she was locked into the hands where they both had trips, a very easy double up for Hellmuth.