Prior to the $10,000 no-limit hold'em championship at Commerce Casino's L.A. Poker Classic, I predicted that Gus Hanson would win. OK, I didn't. However, I was talking to Steve Lipscomb (the World Poker Tour's head honcho) about what makes good television, and he told me that audiences would love it if there were some of the same players who made a few final tables. Thus, poker would develop a few mainstream celebrities. For a few years now, I have been avoiding final tables. I like my privacy, and don't want to fight through the paparazzi every time I go to work. So, I usually bust out early, and get to write about those who win.
This championship wasn't any different. A total of 136 players entered it, and first-place prize money was almost half a million dollars – not bad for a few days work. I played so poorly that I lost half of my initial stack by the first break. I figured that if Phil Ivey could bust out in the first few spots and get ridiculed at the same time by a classless player, who was I to try to impress the naysayers. I was on the next flight to Las Vegas before the first dinner break. What a loser! After a few days on my couch, I decided to fly back to L.A. to watch the entire World Poker Tour production of the final table of the championship event.
The set, bright lights, and atmosphere were that of a rock concert, but there was poker instead of music. It was quite cool to see it all in person. As the final six players were announced (Daniel Rentzer, Steve Shkolnik, Bob Stupak, David Pham, Andy Bloch, and Gus Hanson), I went behind the scenes to watch the production take place. Lipscomb was watching two televisions that had four camera views on each. All at the same time, he was telling one camera to zoom in, one to focus on the chips, and another to blur out the audience. Then, Gus began to play a bunch of pots and get his money involved. Finally, as Gus was in the middle of a hand, Lipscomb said, "Zoom in on Gus. Why? Because I love Gus. Gus plays every hand!" He didn't play every hand, but it sure seemed that he did. He got people to call huge bets when he had the hands, and to fold the others. It truly was a pleasure watching Gustav at work as he eventually beat Daniel Rentzer to win his second $10,000 buy-in WPT event.
So, Mr. Lipscomb, if a repeat player at a WPT final table is good for the audience, how good is a repeat $500,000 winner? 