Rants from the Rio -- The Year of Deja Vu

Check out Rants from the Rio for a weekly wrap up of all things going down at the 40th annual World Series of Poker. This is where you can find insight about the side stories, records, and general madness of the WSOP that doesn’t make it into live updates and tournament reports.

Two Railbirds Overheard at the 2009 World Series of Poker:

Railbird 1: You ever have déjà vu?

Railbird 2: Yes, this summer in the Amazon Room. I watched Brock Parker win a bracelet and then he won a second bracelet four days later, both in six-handed hold’em events. In fact, he won back-to-back tournaments that he entered.

R1: Well, that’s nice, but I watched Phil Ivey win two bracelets in nine days, the sixth and seventh of his career. Best…Player…Ever.

R2: That’s pretty good, but I also watched Finnish wunderkind Ville Wahlbeck play at three final tables. He finished in first place, second place, and third place, and they were all $10,000 world championship events. How’s that for Scandilous?

R1: All right, but I watched a final table three-of-a-kind of my own. James Van Alstyne finished in sixth place at the $10,000 world championship mixed event and then a week later he made the final table of the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. He took the chip lead into the final heads-up match but lost to Zachary Fellows. No matter to Van Alstyne though, because he learned from his mistake. Five days later at the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event he took the chip lead into the heads-up final once again, and that time he defeated Tad Jurgens to win his first gold bracelet.

R2: Touché sir, now that’s déjà vu with a twist.

There hasn’t been this big of a glitch-in-the-matrix in the world of sports since Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls in the nineties. Back-to-back winners and multiple final-table appearance have become the standard down at the Rio. So much so, that no one is surprised when it happens at this point. A lot of poker players are getting hot at just the right time and the WSOP player of the year race is jam packed at the top. Consider this…Erick Lindgren won the WSOP POY award with 245 points in 2008. Wahlbeck already has 255 points and there are four players that are above 200 points (Phil Ivey – 225, Brock Parker and Van Alstyne – 220 points).

First, it was Parker winning two bracelets, and then Ivey won two for the summer. Now we have a dozen players that have made two final tables and three that have made three final tables (Wahlbeck, Van Alstyne, and John Juanda). There are also three players that finished one place shy of winning two bracelets.

If Wahlbeck hadn’t finished second in event No. 23, we would have had three double-bracelet winners. If Angel Guillen hadn’t finished in second place in event No. 13 he would have made it three double-bracelet winners. If Panayote “Pete” Vilandos hadn’t finished in second place in Event No. 4 he could have been the third double-bracelet winner. If Van Alstyne would have closed the door in both heads-up matches he played in at H.O.R.S.E. final tables this summer he would would have been the third double-bracelet winner. If all four of the players just mentioned above had finished one spot better in each case there would be six double-bracelet winners in 34 events, Six! That is just ridiculous.

An honorable mention should also go out to Steve Sung as well. He won a bracelet in event No. 4 and then placed third in event No. 23. If Sung had won two bracelets we could have been looking at seven double-bracelet winners in one summer. That outrageous feat would have beat the all-time record. There were six multiple bracelet winners at the 2003 WSOP – Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Layne Flack, Men Nguyen, Johnny Chan, and Phil Hellmuth.

It usually doesn’t start to feel like Bill Murray’s personal Groundhog Day down at the Rio until Days 1A-D of the main event. This year every day seems eerily similar because the same players keep making appearance on the same final-table stage, only the games and buys-in have been changed to protect the innocent. While it might be repetitive to keep writing about the repeat success of a few players, it is truly representative of what has been taking place here.

If last year was the Year of the Pro then 2009 is definitely the Year of Déjà Vu at the WSOP.

WSOP Week 3: By the Bracelets

Event No. 20: John-Paul Kelly (Score one for England)
Event No. 21: Zachary Fellows (Canadian pulls off comeback vs. James Van Alstyne)
Event No. 22: Jeff Carris (Vegas pro wins 1st gold bracelet)
Event No. 23: Nick Schulman (The Takeover ends title drought with 1st bracelet)
Event No. 24: Panayote Vilandos (2nd career bracelet comes at 2nd 2009 final table)
Event No. 25: Phil Ivey (Takes home his 2nd bracelet of the summer, 7th overall)
Event No. 26: Tomas Alenius (surprisingly, only the 2nd Swedish bracelet ever)
Event No. 27: Roland de Wolfe (Wins 1st bracelet to complete poker’s Triple Crown)
Event No. 28: Mike Eise (Amateur keeps the “anyone can win” dream alive in 2009)
Event No. 29: Leo Wolpert (Law student defeats John Duthie 2-1 in long final match)
Event No. 30: J.C. Tran (Tran picks up his 2nd bracelet, 1st in pot-limit Omaha)
Event No. 31: James Van Alstyne (Wins 1st bracelet at 2nd 2009 H.O.R.S.E. final table)
Event No. 32: Angel Guillen (2nd bracelet winner ever from Mexico)
Event No. 33: Greg Mueller (FBT wins his 1st gold bracelet after coming so close before)
Event No. 34: Eric Baldwin (Vegas pro wins 1st bracelet and jumps to 4th in Card Player POY race)

WSOP Week 3: By the Numbers (Through event No. 34)

Total number of WSOP entrants: 34,237

Total prize money: $66,977,288

NOTE: Tracker stats exclude event No. 1 ($500 casino employees no-limit hold’em):

WSOP World Tracker:

U.S. – 24 bracelets
U.K. – 2 bracelets
Canada – 2 bracelets
Russia – 1 bracelet
Finland – 1 bracelet
Australia – 1 bracelet
Sweden – 1 bracelet
Mexico – 1 bracelet

US Tracker:

Nevada – 6 bracelets
California – 6 bracelets
New York – 2 bracelets
Maryland – 2 bracelets
FL, MI, NC, PN, OH, HI, TX, VA – Tied with 1 bracelet

Pros vs. Amateurs:

Pros – 24 bracelets
Semi-Pros – 5 bracelets
Amateurs – 4 bracelets