Sundance Film (Poker?) Festival – Part I

In my last column, I related that I had acted as master of ceremonies at A-Rod's (Alex Rodriquez) star-studded charity event in Miami, teasing the likes of Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Tom Brady. The next night, I was the master of ceremonies at the star-studded W Las Vegas Hotel, Casino and Residences poker event at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. I had flown from the heat of Miami to the frigid mountains of Utah. In Miami, I drank nothing and didn't play in the tournament, but in Park City, I drank Dom Perignon and joined the 50-player event. After all, first prize was a $700,000 Las Vegas condo, to be built in 2008, and since I wasn't getting paid to provide commentary, I wanted a shot at winning it.

The event had a great vibe, with a huge audience watching players like Laura Prepon, Shannon Elizabeth, Gina Gershon, Danny and Chris Masterson, Kevin Smith, Emile Hirsch, Good Charlotte's Benji and Joel Madden, Dave Navarro (with Carmen Electra sitting behind him), Lance Bass, DJ AM, Summer Altice, Anne Heche, poker pros Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, Phil Laak, and Antonio Esfandiari, and semipro poker player and W Las Vegas founder Reagan Silber, to name a few. The event took place in a huge white tent, with a deejay and video monitors covering the action.

It was literally a "beautiful" night for me, for I had Heche, Prepon, Elizabeth, and Gershon seated at my table. The four of them all played no-limit hold'em very well, and handled themselves with class. Prepon lost her chips on a coin flip when her A-Q was all in against 7-7; she was an 11-9 underdog when the chips went in before the flop. Going out with A-Q was very respectable.

As 50 players became 40, I was still in there with $1,200 of my $2,500 in starting chips. But who cared about playing poker? I was there to be the master of ceremonies, watch some films, and enjoy the Sundance atmosphere. Inasmuch as I walked from table to table announcing hands, needling the stars and giving them props, and trying to inject a little more energy into the room, I looked at only about 40 percent of the hands that were dealt to me. It seemed as if every time I sat down, someone called me over to announce a celebrity hand somewhere else, which was OK with me.

With 35 players left, the blinds at $75-$150, and a raise in front of me of $400 to go, I looked down at the A Q and moved all in. Annie Duke grabbed the microphone to announce my all-in hand against my opponent's K Q. She announced (correctly) that my A Q was a 2.5-to-1 favorite to win the pot over the K Q. Then, the flop shocked the room – and me – when it came down A A A. I had flopped four aces, and someone in the room ran the numbers and declared that that was a 16,000-1 shot! Was this a sign of things to come?

The very next hand, I raised with K-Q, and the big-blind player called me with A-10. The flop came down J-9-4, and we both checked. Then, a 10 on the turn gave me a king-high straight. My opponent bet out $1,000, and I decided that I needed to raise, and made it $2,000 to go. My opponent then raised my last $200, and Annie was on the microphone again, announcing another Hellmuth all in, but this time my opponent was drawing dead.

When we hit the final two tables, with 18 players remaining, I had $24,000 in chips, and now I had to walk only a few feet to announce the other table's key hands. At this point, I was looking at almost every hand, and had stopped drinking Dom Perignon. I still had a shot at winning this thing, but I wasn't thinking too much about that possibility. I mean, this was an all-or-nothing deal, as Duke cleverly announced later: "First place is a big house, and second place a TV?" I was still content being the master of ceremonies, and was having a ball doing it.

When we hit the final table, Chris Masterson had the lead with $40,000 in chips, but I was right on his tail with $35,000 or so. Now, I didn't have to stand up anymore, since I could announce the hands from my seat at the table. Amazingly, I had drawn the same seat that I had occupied all evening. We had started with five tables, and I happened to draw what would be the final table (the one that never broke down), and then I drew seat No. 5 again.

Also at the final table were Annie Duke, Gina Gershon, Shannon Elizabeth, and our host and founder of W Las Vegas, Reagan Silber. Gershon finished sixth when her K 2 failed to beat Silber's K-K for a huge pot. She was a 9-1 underdog with that hand. Elizabeth finished fifth when her K-7 failed to outdraw Masterson's A-10. She was more than a 3-2 underdog with her K-7. Duke, roughly an 11-9 underdog when her Q-10 lost to Silber's A-4 all in before the flop, finished in fourth place.

Suddenly, it was Masterson, Silber, and I, and we all had roughly the same amount of chips. One of us would win the $700,000 fully furnished condo. Earlier in the evening, I had very publicly and teasingly announced, "There is no way Reagan could win this thing!" Perhaps I was about to eat my words. The tournament's conclusion will appear in my next column.