The Latest Gossip From the Internet Poker World

by Michael Vu

Cloutier’s Bracelets for Sale on eBay

An Tran reportedly sold his WSOP bracelet and has not won another one since. Jennifer Tilly admitted to purchasing one from a Las Vegas pawnshop before she actually won her own. Now T.J. Cloutier’s 2005 WSOP bracelet is up for sale on eBay. (http://blog.mlive.com/deadmoney/2010/01/tj_cloutiers_world_series_of_p.html)

This is not the first time World Series gold has seen the online auction site. Just last year, an unknown player’s 2008 WSOP bracelet was listed on eBay and removed before the auction ended. The highest bid was almost $8,000.

Cloutier’s gold bracelet was won in a $5,000 no-limit hold’em event where he outlasted a field of 466 players and a final table with Todd Brunson, John Hennigan and John Bonetti. The bracelet is stamped “14K” and “Italy” with 13 round-cut diamonds totaling approximately .25 carat. The auction had a starting price of $2,999 and did not have any bids with only two days before closing.

He apparently sold this bracelet and another to a pawnshop in Plano, Texas. According to the seller, “We acquired this piece along with another championship bracelet (see other auction) from Mr. Cloutier directly.”

The other auction is for a Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge Championship Bracelet won by T.J. in 2007. As we go to press there is a single opening bid of $2,499 for this piece of jewelry.

Andy Beal Sighting at Bellagio Poker Room

A member of a popular Internet forum recently broke the news that Andy Beal was back in Vegas and was seen playing in Bobby’s Room. According to TwoPlusTwo user BCT, he arrived at the Bellagio poker room and noticed Beal when he looked over at the high-stakes tables. “Eli Elezra and Jen Harman arrive and a game starts. Nothing out of the ordinary here except that Andy Beal (100 percent confirmed him) was in the game again. I’m pretty certain that it is his first time back since the last time taking on the Corporation.” (http://www.coinflip.com/news/andy-beal-spotted-playing-bellagio.html)

For those unfamiliar with Beal and the “Corporation,” one need only look to Michael Craig’s retelling of the matches in his book The Professor, The Banker, and The Suicide King. The story follows a series of matches between 2001 and 2006 in which Beal, a billionaire banker, took on the Corporation, a group of professional poker players who pooled their money to play him heads-up limit hold’em at the stakes he wanted. At the highest point in the game the blinds were $100,000-$200,000 and the swings between Beal and the Corporation were sometimes more than $10 million per match. The Banker conceded defeat to the Corporation after losing $16.6 million to Phil Ivey in February of 2006.

Speculation is rampant as to whether or not there are talks of future high-stakes battles with Beal. Some even suggested the possibility of a new corporation formed with successful online pros. A forum poster pointed out there was a banker’s convention in Vegas that weekend. Beal was likely only in town for business and probably playing for fun.

Jeff Garza Spits in Player’s Face at PCA

Some very ugly business came out of the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) tournament in the Bahamas. During a $5,000 side tournament two online pros had an altercation that resulted in one of them being escorted out by security. After busting from the event, Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza spit in the face of another player on the tournament floor.

Garza posted on PocketFives (http://www.pocketfives.com/poker-forums/7/actionjeff-spits-in-brynkenneys-face-at-pca-literally-5105427/p/5113562#5113562) that he made eye contact with Bryn Kenney as he was leaving and just the smirk on his face provoked their argument. “I walked up to him and said something along the lines of ‘don’t look at me you thieving piece of s--t’ and nudged him with my shoulder.”

Kenney stood up from the table and there was shouting and shoving when the tournament staff called security.

“[Bryn] said something along the lines of, ‘If I wasn’t playing poker, give me one good reason’… So I gave him that good reason.”

According to Garza, there are some personal issues with Bryn Kenney that were reignited before the PCA. Neither player is hesitating to air their dirty laundry all over the Internet and both continue to argue and exchange words through the most popular poker forums. Kenney confirmed the spitting incident and posted (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=16198726&postcount=131) exactly why he thinks Garza has a problem with him.

“The only thing I did wrong was when he was in like $60k makeup I was losing a lot during the series and the $12k or whatever I owed him I couldn’t give him right then since I was getting killed. Nothing else I have ever done to him was even close to in the wrong,” Kenney wrote.

The two players exchanged stakes and backings a number of times and it’s not entirely clear who owes money to whom. What is clear is that these arguments have become very personal and could soon get out of hand. Garza claims Kenney has threatened him through instant messages and is taking the situation very seriously (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=16245225&postcount=413).

“Of course, I have the screenshots of both times Bryn threatened to kill me, and have contacted the police,” wrote Garza. “I did warn him that if his ‘boys’ decide to gang up on me and assault me, I will be armed.”

As in most of these situations, both players come off looking bad. Hopefully the two young pros can set aside their differences and not let this situation spiral out of control and get in the way of their futures.

Andreas Hoivold Marries Dealer in Vegas

Norwegian poker pro Andreas Hoivold was in Vegas to take part in the taping of the sixth season of High Stakes Poker. According to Hoivold’s blog (http://www.nettavisen.no/poker/article2772723.ece), he was staying at the Golden Nugget where the show was filmed when he met his future wife. Her name is Vicki Ann Sims, a poker dealer at the casino, and he tipped her a $50 bill with his room number on it and the message, “Please call me.”

Sims actually called Hoivold and they had their first meal together the next day. After that date, the pair scheduled another meeting and Hoivold decided it was a good time to break it off with the girlfriend he’d lived with in Norway for the last three years.

“I ended our relationship over the phone there and then,” explained Hoivold. “I was in love! In a completely different level than ever before!”

Hoivold admitted that he felt terrible afterwards but that didn’t stop him from falling deeper for Sims. Not even three days had passed before they got married.

Andreas also wrote about his plans for an apartment at the Panorama Towers in Las Vegas. “I am very excited about what the future holds! Both on and off the poker table!”

Gus Hansen Quits Quitting

After a volatile roller-coaster ride at the online tables in 2009, Gus Hansen decided he would quit poker for a while. According to HighStakesPokerDB.com, the Great Dane ended last year the most losing player with online losses of more than $5.5 million. His self-imposed hiatus was extremely short lived and he returned to the tables in January determined to bounce back. As we go to press Hansen is up $1.2 million over 20,000 tracked hands. The Full Tilt Poker pro played 656 sessions in just a few weeks.

Hansen saw similar success in the first month of 2009, which could be part of his reasoning to get back in the saddle so quickly. Last January, Hansen played a little over 30,000 hands and made upwards of $2.8 million. Had he taken a break for the rest of the year, he would’ve finished 2009 as the sixth most profitable player on Full Tilt (http://www.pokerkingblog.com/2010/01/13/gus-hansen-is-off-to-a-strong-start-in-2010/).

It will be interesting to see if he’s just running good or will actually maintain and/or grow his profits and end this year in the black. Good luck, Gus!

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