Poker News Round-up

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Poker News Round-up: Week #35

By Adam Noone, 29/08/2008

Another week passes and another high profile player is unearthed as a multi-accounter. This time it’s online cash game sensation Brian Townsend who has been exposed as having secondary accounts on both Pokerstars and more importantly Full Tilt where he is a sponsored pro. No saved record of it seems to exist, but the word is that Townsend contributed towards his own downfall when he accidentally posted screenshots of himself playing on an account other than the one Full Tilt has been paying him to use. Those pictures were soon taken down but once word was out, other people said that they suspected that the account Stellarnebula might be Townsend apart from the fact that it was generally playing $25/$50 pot limit Omaha rather than the highest stakes Townsend is known for.

Brian Townsend

Any speculation as to whether Townsend really was playing incognito came to an end this week when he released a statement admitting that he had been multi-accounting for the past six months. It appears that the cause of this has been a massive downswing of several million dollars which all began with an ill thought out decision to bluff Bobby Baldwin in a Las Vegas cash game before the hand had even been dealt. That rush of blood cost Townsend $1.8 million in a single pot when he belatedly discovered that the former world champion would not be folding the nuts, and it all went downhill from there. Having got his fingers burnt playing $1000/$2000, Townsend’s next move was actually good money management in that he decided to drop down to lower stakes and spend some time rebuilding both bankroll and confidence. What wasn’t so good was that his ego got the better of him, and to be seen playing $25/$50 seemed to be a sign of failure sufficient that he would rather that it was all kept from the public eye. He then took over his assistant’s dormant account and played on that although if records of online cash play on an internet site are accurate, a further $185,000 was lost at Omaha on this second account before he was outed.

In the past Full Tilt have been accused of turning a blind eye to big name players holding multiple accounts, but this time there has been action from Lederer et al who have suspended his red pro privileges for a period of six months. It seems the Brian Townsend account will still be active though as it is listed as being due to participate in the forthcoming $25,000 Omaha heads up tournament. This has led to accusations that whilst wanting to be seen to be doing something Full Tilt has still acted rather leniently, especially given the ban which it dished out to Sorel Mizzi last year. For his part, Townsend has offered to donate $25,000 to charity as a gesture of his penitence.

Over in Los Angeles the latest leg of the World Poker Tour has been taking place at the famous Bicycle card room where 373 players sat down for the $10,000 main event. This tournament has lived up to its Legends Of Poker billing in the past with previous winners including Dan Harrington and Doyle Brunson, and once again there were numerous entrants who might have a genuine claim to being a modern day poker legend.

A decent structure with ninety minute levels and a 30,000 starting stack meant that there was plenty of play and no need to do anything silly early on - unless you really wanted to of course. Just half an hour into day 1b a player moved all in under the gun for 20,000 with blinds at 50/100. Holding pocket kings, Brian Rast briefly debated the possibility of this being a trap with aces before deciding that he couldn’t fold and made the call. The under the gun player turned over 3 2 off suit which didn’t find a miracle board and to the great surprise of the rest of the table, the first casualty of the day was out of his seat and off. The owner of that three high hand was some fella named Phil Ivey, who presumably either found something more pressing to do inside the space of thirty minutes, or decided that being all in with a decent hand just isn’t enough of a buzz any more.

John Phan

The rest of the field spent the next few days playing a little more orthodox poker and whilst they were not exactly legends, the six handed final table contained some strong players. Internet pro Amit Makhija (aka Amak316) was chip leader, with Chip Reese’s nephew Zachary Clark (aka Crazy Zachary online) also in with a shout, but the real excitement centred on the possibility of John Phan picking up a WPT title to go with the two WSOP bracelets he won in June. After Phan got heads up against Makhija a victory for one of them seemed seconds away several times but a series of all in confrontations saw the smaller stack double up following a succession of dramatic winners on the river. Makhija can often be found sitting at high stakes heads up matches online and proved to be a tough opponent in what Mike Sexton called “the greatest heads up match in WPT history,” but Phan eventually got the better of him when his pocket threes dodged numerous outs to finally bust the youngster. Phan collects $1.1 million and adds another title to add to his stunning achievements for 2008.

The old $1 million and a young Hendon Mobster
fresh from an audition for Bros

And finally, some news from Las Vegas is that Binions is attempting to re-create some of the old magic that once made the casino the most profitable in the city under the guidance of Benny Binion. In the 1950’s a display was erected on the gaming floor which contained one million dollars in cash. It was a lot of money to have sat around not doing anything but it was actually a wise move by an operator who knew his punters. The display became a classic tourist attraction of Las Vegas and by offering free pictures with the display which visitors could collect later in the day, Benny Binion ensured plenty of extra traffic through his casino.

The new $1 million

When control of the casino passed to Becky Binion, a number of unpopular changes were made including the sale of the display in 2000 to raise extra funds. Under the stewardship of Becky Binion the status of the casino fell amid several unpleasant incidents, but new owners TLC Enterprises have since been trying to revive some of the old spirit. That includes the return of the million dollar display but it is unlikely to capture the imagination of the public in the same way as it did fifty years ago. Back then a million dollars was a captivatingly large sum of money, and it was made all the more special by the fact that it was entirely made up of crisp $10,000 notes which most people just didn’t see in their day to day lives. The modern day offering is a pyramid of hundred, twenty and one dollar bills which lacks the charm the original had, and remarkably photo opportunities come at a cost now. Customers must now sign up for the slot club, pay $20 for their souvenir photo and also generate $25 of play at the tables or slots. The new management have inevitably pronounced the display a success though and following its installation the other day general manager Tim Lager declared “it was pretty wild. People were taking pictures with their phones.” Crazy stuff indeed.

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