Even the best player in the room has to be sweating at least a bit over that heady of a number.  This event is truly unprecedented—the prize pool today will be larger than any golf tournament in the world.  If all goes well and ratings are high enough on ESPN this will simply be the first stop on a high-stakes golf “tour.”  

The inspiration for the event comes from Sports Illustrated’s back page author, Rick Reilly.  Reilly’s 2003 book Who’s Your Caddy? documents his experience as a caddy for golf greats including Jack Nicklaus, John Daly, and David Duval.  He also spent some time as a caddy for some high stakes gamblers—including Dewey Tomko.  Reilly is one of the partners in High Stakes Entertainment, the company behind the proposed tour.

After filling us in on some of the story behind this event, Mike asked Doyle and Dewey to come on stage. The Texas Dolly wasted no time in expressing some disappointment as pulled the microphone close to him and muttered, “Mike, my only objection about this whole thing is you’re not in it.”  

Player introductions for the three-man scramble followed and the hustling was not far behind it.  “I don’t know.  I’m old and broke down.  I think I need a few strokes,” claimed former main-event champion Russ Hamilton when asked about his team’s chances.  Unfortunately he was left shaking his head when teammate Phil Hellmuth started killing their side action by announcing, “I’m playing as good as I have in my life.”  At least we know why Phil was invited.  

E-Dog, Josh, and Daniel were introduced next and when Mike asked him about how he thought they would do, Erick motioned to Phil and stated, “If it weren’t for negotiations, we’d win ‘em all.”  You can already tell who the whipping boy is going to be over the next few days.  I’ll probably have enough material for an entire post dedicated to digs on Hellmuth.  

The highlight of the evening was Venetian headliner Gordie Brown’s 15 minute appearance on stage.  Things started off a bit rough for the impressionist, but his comedy found it’s groove when he brought out his George Bush impersonation.  One of the fellows decked out in full cowboy regalia got up from Doyle’s table  and, in jest, started to leave.  Brown had a field day on him before turning his attention to Brunson, whose seat at the table was facing away from the stage.  “Doyle’s a legend, I’ve been a big fan and followed him on TV.  Wow, that’s the only thing I’ve said all night that finally got his ass to turn around.”

It’s now 8:40 AM on Wednesday which means it’s time for me to head to the golf course.  However, I’m still left wondering about the look on Daniel’s face last night.  Was the fear in his eyes all part of working the hustle, or was it truly genuine? Their team could possibly lose more money in a few hours than my entire family makes in a year (and I have plenty of siblings).  Playing for a million bucks a hole on nine holes probably means that it's much more likely that one teams leaves the course a huge loser than it does another being a big winner.

All Daniel could manage to say when asked about the event was, "We're drawing soooo dead..."  Shaking his head, Daniel continued, "We're in trouble with some of these teams.  David Grey and Huck against me and E-Dog?  That team is stacked!" 

In the background, Janet Jones and Vince Van Patten were parading around the set of giant metal cut-out cards.  It's no secret that Wayne Gretsky's wife likes to gamble but I'm going to be a bit surprised if she can hold her own with some of these guys in a round of golf (actually, the consensus was that Vince's score would be the only one showing up on the card in best-ball).

While the next few days of golf will be entertaining, the constant wagering and bullshitting will tell the real story about these players.  "I like having Huck around. He's kind of like a little kid that I'm always keeping out of trouble," remarked David Grey while spinning tale after tale of Huck's famous prop-bets.  It's one thing to hear the account of Huck playing tennis eight hours a day for thirty days straight second-hand and quite another to watch David's eyes bulge while insulting Huck's intelligence for only making $15k on the bet.  Then there was the story about Huck winning $5k for spending over a dozen hours in a strip club...betting Hellmuth that he would never weigh over 185 pounds in his lifetime...running the marathon on a summer day in Vegas (all 26 miles on an oval track)...

Stay tuned to PokerWire as I'll be tagging along on the golf course (and the after-parties) to follow the action...

The pro making the most noise at his table isn’t Dewey Tomko (and that’s not to say he’s doing badly) but Alex Jacob. On a hand typical of his day so far, Jacob called a raise before the flop made by an obscure amateur. Amateur bet the K52 flop. Jacob called. The turn was a blank, the 8. Afraid to fire another bullet, amateur checked. Jacob read it correctly as weakness and not a trap. He fired three yellow chips at the pot. Amateur attempted to stare him down, but Jacob’s eyes were hidden in the shadow of his droopy Afro. Amateur mucked his cards with a sigh. One more example of a pro taking a pot away from someone showing weakness. 

That was hardly the most exciting hand in that corner of the room. Several tables over, amateur Matt Shepski opened for a raise to $600. Amateur John Liss reraised to $2,100. Shepski called. The flop came AK9. Shepski checked. Liss bet $4,000. Shepski grabbed his chip stacks and flung them sloppily into the pot. Liss quickly called, and asked Shepski, “Do you have aces?” He asked because it was the only hand that could beat his. He had kings, which thoroughly dominated Shepski’s A-K. The turn was a blank, but the river was an ace. Shepski had caught a two-outer to make a bigger full house on the river. And John Liss’s day, the day he had dreamed of for so long, was done. “What am I going to do?” Shepski asked. “Fold that hand? Top two. No way.”
 

 Two tables down the line Devilfish Uliot was trying to take a hand away from an amateur the way Jacob had except Uliot didn’t have position on his opponent. The flop was 543, what looked like a classic Devilfish flop. He checked and called a guy who had what looked like a freshly shaved head that once held corn rows. Shaved Corn Rows fired again on the turn, which convinced Devilfish to give up chasing, but not without a snarl. “Did you raise thin again?” Meaning preflop, I guess. And he might not have even said that. Devilfish is hard to understand.

And then there was Dr. Pauley’s favorite player, Liz Lieu, sitting behind a tall, straight, and entirely phallic tower of chips. She was flinging around chips and betting big, using her position to take pots away from amateurs. As nice-looking as she is, none of the railbirds were looking at her. They were too busy gawking at Jeff Madsen. Madsen was playing in a jester costume (he lost a prop bet to Gavin Smith and Joe Sebok), and no one at his table was laughing, especially not the guy he won a big pot off of with 102. Madsen made trip tens to push his chip count above average.

Time to go check out another quarter acre inside the poker room….