Shenanigans at the WSOP

Posts from the live bloggers at PokerNews, which need to be read in order. First, from last night:

Hellmuth Ends the Day With a Blow-up

Cristian Dragomir opened with a raise to 80,000 before Hellmuth made it
255,000 to go from the small blind.

"I hope he doesn't have aces," said Hellmuth as Dragomir asked for a count.
After a few moments, Dragomir made the call.

They saw a flop of 9c-10c-7s and Hellmuth checked to Dragomir, who thought
for a moment before firing a healthy bet of 300,000. Hellmuth sighed in disgust
before folding As-Kh face-up on the table.

Matusow laughed and said to Dragomir to show the bluff, and Dragomir
flipped 10d-4d! Matusow and the crowd roared in hysterics as Hellmuth jumped out
of his seat and stormed around the room berating his opponent for calling his
reraise with ten high.

"Listen buddy, you're an idiot!" screamed Hellmuth. "This is the Main Event
and you are the worst player in history!" he continued as the crowd was loving
every moment of the blow-up.

Dragomir's entourage continued to cheer as Hellmuth continued the barrage.
The TD stepped in and issued a warning to Hellmuth to settle down before
Dragomir stood up out of his chair to put Hellmuth back in his place with a cry
of, "Enough is enough!"

Fortunately for both players the clock ticked over to the end of the level,
and the end of the day's play to settle both players down. They eventually shook
hands and began to bag up their chips as Mike Matusow summed up the situation
best as he shouted, "Thank God for Phil Hellmuth! Thank God for Chris
Moneymaker!"

What a way to end the day!


Extra! Extra! Hellmuth Starts Day 6 in the Penalty Box

Everyone thought Phil Hellmuth ended the day just with a blow-up and a
warning, but that's not the case. He continued to berate Cristian Dragomir for
several minutes after the last hand we described and after floorperson Robbie
Thompson issued him a warning. That prompted Thompson to summon supervisor Steve
Frezer to the feature table. Frezer listened to Thompson's description of the
situation and then assessed Hellmuth a one-orbit penalty to start Day 6.

Never a dull moment when Hellmuth's around.

Then we move to the action early today:

Sitting This One Out

As we reported just prior to the conclusion of last night's play, Phil
Hellmuth will be serving a one-orbit penalty and sitting out the first nine
hands of play. With the blinds and antes where they are, this time-out will cost
Hellmuth a total of 81,000 chips, or roughly 11% of his total stack.

It should come as no suprise that Hellmuth starts Day 6 back at the main
ESPN featured table on the Milwaukee's Best Light stage. With just moments until
the cards are in the air, the other eight players have arrived, unbagged their
chips, and have been mic'd up by the crew, but "The Poker Brat" is nowhere in
sight.


Off the Hook

Just before the announcement of "shuffle up and deal," Hellmuth
strolled into the tournament area and took his seat. He was dealt into the first
hand which he raised from under the gun, winning the blinds and antes.

When a floor supervisor was asked about the alleged one-round penalty
Hellmuth was to serve, a reply of "it's been overruled" was given.


Phil Hellmuth's One-Orbit Penalty Overturned

Many people were surprised when Phil Hellmuth sat down at the ESPN
Featured Table and played the first hand of the day after receiving a one-round
penalty for his behavior during the final hand of play last night.

When asked why Hellmuth was not sitting out, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey
Pollack told us, "The penalty has been overturned, and we will be issuing a
formal statement shortly."

Stay tuned for more on this development.


Official Statement from the WSOP on Phil Hellmuth's Penalty

The following statement was just released by the World Series of Poker
regarding Phil Hellmuth's penalty, which was overturned at the start of play
today:

"This morning Phil Hellmuth met with Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director,
Howard Greenbaum, Harrah's Regional Vice President for Specialty Gaming, and
Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the WSOP. Based on that meeting and an official
review of the situation, it was decided that the penalty imposed on Mr. Hellmuth
at the conclusion of play last night was excessive."

"Warnings and penalties are intended to correct inappropriate behavior and
our rulings should be as fair as possible, given the circumstances," said
Pollack. "In this instance, the punishment did not fit the crime."

"Phil has now been warned and put on notice in a way that he never has
been," Pollack added.

This has "shenanigans" written all over it.

First, if you're Joe Ordinary Player who got assigned a penalty, could you even get a meeting with the people named in the WSOP press release? I doubt it. If asked, they would now probably say that of course they would give the same consideration to anybody similarly situated. But only a fool would believe that. It's simply not plausible. My guess is that you have to have a poker agent and/or attorney with insider connections to even be able to get a phone call returned from those guys.

Second, what the hell is the "Harrah's Regional Vice President for Specialty Gaming" doing in that meeting? When did he become part of the tournament staff in charge of enforcement of tournament rules? Answer: Never. He's not. The WSOP's own rules for 2008 specify, at #98: "The Tournament Supervisor's, or highest authority in the room, decision is final." Doesn't mention that the "Harrah's Regional Vice President for Specialty Gaming" gets involved. Maybe "final" means "subject to us changing our minds later if we fear that television revenue might drop as a result of the previously not-really-final decision." Maybe it depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.

The obvious and pretty much inescapable conclusion from his meddling in this mess is that the primary question they had under consideration was not "What is fair?" or "What do the rules say?" or "What is the right thing to do here?" or "How have we treated other players with similar outbursts?" but rather "What is best for Harrah's?" What they clearly decided was best for Harrah's was to minimize the chance that Hellmuth would be eliminated from the tournament before reaching the final table, as he would be a big draw for TV ratings.

Third, how is it, exactly, that screaming (assuming that PN is reporting accurately here) to one's opponent that he is an idiot and the worst player in history is not deserving of a one-round sit-out, which is the mildest penalty they have to impose? WSOP 2008 Rule 35 reads, in relevant part, "Any player who directs any profane and/or abusive language at another player, dealer or tournament staff member or who makes any profane and/or abusive comments about another player, dealer or tournament staff member will be penalized in accordance with Rules No. 31 and/or 51." Note the word "will" there. Not "may be penalized," but "will be penalized." It is mandatory. We have to conclude, then, that in the opinion of the highest WSOP brass, screaming that your opponent is an idiot and the worst player in poker somehow does not constitute "abusive language" or "abusive comments." I'd love to hear them explain that.

Finally, what's this business about Hellmuth now being on notice? Is there anybody in the poker world who had already had more warnings, or had more behavioral penalties imposed than Phil Hellmuth? Are we seriously to believe that the WSOP directors concluded that maybe he just didn't know what the rules were, or what proper conduct required, and thus was deserving of just a warning instead of an actual penalty. What complete bullshit.

This is not the only way in which Hellmuth has been placed above the WSOP rules. As documented by California Jen at Pokerati here, Hellmuth alone was given a pass for the huge UltimateBet logo on his shirt that clearly exceeded the explicit tournament rules.

This is reminiscent of the apparently special treatment given Scotty Nguyen earlier in the series.

Shenanigans. Low, scummy, rotten, unfair, favoritism shenanigans, coming from the highest levels of authority at the WSOP.

Addendum, July 13, 2008

My habit during the WSOP has been to read the previous day's Tao of Pauly blog each morning. Following that pattern, I just now found what he wrote about the incident yesterday:

The Hellmuth saga continues...

I got confirmation that Hellmuth's appeal was based on two things...

1. It was an act for ESPN cameras.

2. He said that although he was given a warning many times before, it was
always an idle threat and nothing every happened beyond that warning. He felt as
though the timing of the penalty and that the lack of enforcement of previous
warning was also justification for it to be overruled.

Jeffrey Pollack will be issuing a statement shortly.

I think it's bullshit about the reversal on the original ruling made by
Steve Frezer. One orbit? It was peanuts. Hellmuth should have taken it like a
man. And Harrah's should not have gotten involved. Why stir the pot on such a
minor thing in an almost flawless WSOP main event? Talk about stepping in
dogshit one block before you walk into church.

Harrah's dropped the ball there. Double standard? Hell yes. If that
incident did not have a named pro or a celebrity like Hellmuth involved, the
obnoxious out of line player would have been tossed much earlier. Guys like
Scotty Nguyen and Hellmuth get away with being jackoffs for the cameras. By not
enforcing the "excessive celebration" rule which they added this year, Harrah's
is abiding by a double standard. They are pretty much saying that it's perfectly
OK to do what you want. Act like an ass. As long as it is for the entertainment
purposes.

As usual, Pauly both adds information not available elsewhere and nails the commentary.