[Talking Poker]

2005 Tournament of Champions
Caesars Palace – Las Vegas
Official Report

Day Two
No-Limit Hold’em
Number of Entries: 114
Total Prize Money: $2,000,000


Battle of the Gladiators:
Final Nine Set for 2005 Tournament of Champions

Phil Hellmuth Remains Chip Leader, Mike Matusow Second


The 2005 Tournament of Champions (TOC) continued at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Day Two began with two of poker’s most combustible personalities, Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow, basking in a sizeable chip lead versus the rest of the field. Hellmuth and Matusow began the second day as the only players with more than $100,000 in chips. Hoyt Corkins, the genial Alabama cowboy, started in third place with $65,000. Remarkably, very little changed on Day Two. Hellmuth and Matusow remained as the chip leaders. Corkins fell to seventh place in the chip count, but survived.

Play started at 12 noon and continued for only six hours, a lightening-fast pace by World Series of Poker standards. By late afternoon, 21 aspiring millionaires had been eliminated. Several famous names fell by the wayside, including Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Tony Ma, Johnny Chan, and Rene Angelil (Caesars is home turf for Angelil, who is the manager-husband of international diva, Celine Dion, who performs nightly next door at the $80 million Coliseum). But it was the tenth place finisher who was the biggest story of the day.

For poker players, there is no worse feeling than finishing on what is called “the bubble.” At the TOC, the unlucky tenth place finisher can boast of outlasting 103 opponents (out of 114). But the bottom line is that “the bubble” position pays absolutely nothing. Zilch. It’s tournament poker’s ultimate bad beat.

Poker legend Doyle Brunson suffered the cruelest of poker’s indignities when he was eliminated on the final hand of Day Two. It was a big disappointment for Brunson, a ten-time gold bracelet winner and two-time world poker champion. “Texas Dolly” was short-stacked throughout the tournament and was never able to be the dominant force which has characterized his unrivaled 50-year poker career. When Brunson moved his last $20,000 in chips into the pot, and lost, the entire audience gathered inside the Caesars Augustus Ballroom burst into applause. No one clapped more loudly, or with more reverence than his nine competitors, who were fortunate enough to return for Day Three.

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