End of Day One Chip Count
Day 1, July 24, 2000
By Andy Glazer
As I sat at table 59, just after 1:00 a.m., waiting for my chips to be counted and bagged for Day Two of TOC 2000, I was reviewing all the things that didn't go quite so smoothly on Day One, and suddenly I caught myself.
"Forget the bad beat on the last hand, Andy, and answer this one: if you hadn't been to the 1999 Tournament of Champions, what would you have thought of this tournament?"
I realized I would have thought I'd just participated in a marvelous spectacle, an EVENT, a happening, rather than just a poker tournament, with the players treated to gourmet buffets, a dazzling champions lounge filled with 38 of Tom Sexton's Poker Masterpiece collages, a parade of nations entering under their flags, and all players treated to a fine collection of souvenirs that included silver TOC coins, leather travel bags, the 1999 TOC video, and other items.
I would have seen a tournament that moved nicely along, thanks to the use of the Tournament Assistant program that keeps the game, limits, blinds, antes and time remaining in each round available for all the players to see at all times. And I would have seen and heard wonderfully warm and enthusiastic applause for our two World Series finalists, Chris Ferguson and TJ Cloutier.
In other words, I would have seen one of the classiest poker tournaments found anywhere? but there was one problem. I HAD been at the 1999 TOC, an event that so completely blew away any other tournament I'd ever seen that it left me with expectations for TOC 2000 that were unreasonably high.
I guess I know what Tiger Woods must have felt like, after he won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes. "What do I do for an encore?" Well, we all just saw what Tiger did for an encore. He won the British Open by 8 strokes.
TOC founders Mike Sexton and Chuck Humphrey didn't win the British Open by 8 today. I'd be more inclined to call it a two shot lead with 36 holes to play.
So, what went right, and what went wrong?
First, TOC 2000 had 486 starters, a disappointing number, given the 664 who started in 1999, and it created some problems. In 1999, the TOC didn't expect 664 entrants, and they were scrambling to add tables at the last moment. They managed it, but the last few entrants didn't get random seating, they were seated together, and if you know anything about the procrastination of top poker players, you understand why table 11 in 1999 was probably the strongest first table in any poker tournament in the history of poker.
Not wanting to get caught in the same trap this year, the TOC set up for 630 players, and when only 486 showed up, they were left with a tough call: start the tournament with most of the tables six and seven handed, or leave players sitting around for 45 minutes while they consolidated tables. The consolidation option was chosen, and so players sat for a while. Heck, we sat long enough that Phil Hellmuth actually arrived on time. We lost a little momentum from the gala opening festivities, and I was getting ready to gripe about it, when I remembered how everyone stands around for an hour (or more) waiting for The Big One at the World Series to get going. At least we were sitting.
The next problem popped up with the display on the Tournament Assistant program. It showed 520 starters, and as we entered the tournament's third hour, started showing players getting knocked out; I remember glancing at it when we were "down to" 504 players. But then prize sheets were distributed showing 486 entrants, and many of the assembled poker players, not the world's most naturally trusting group, immediately started complaining, "The TOC guys must be stealing 34 entry fees!"
I pointed out to my tablemates that if Messrs. Sexton and Humphrey had wanted to steal 34 entry fees, it would have been a lot craftier simply to post the 486 number from the start, rather than creating a red flag, and that calmed at least those in earshot down. I later spoke to Sexton about it, and he explained.
"Like a few other things, that was an unfortunate error," Mike said. "We had 34 paid entrants who did not show up for the tournament. Naturally, they all get complete refunds. The mistake occurred when the tournament officials went ahead and assigned seats to these players, so it appeared we had 520. Next year, it's obvious we won't assign a seat until a pre-paid player actually shows up."
For those still not convinced, when the starting players' chips were totaled, they added up to $2,435,500, almost exactly what 486 players at $5,000 each should have (the amount is slightly off the theoretical $2,430,000 number because we had 34 stacks being blinded off for a while).
So we had 486 players, and the next obvious question was, why 486 this year when we had 664 last year? Sexton had a few ideas.
"I'm a little disappointed by the number, but not shocked," Mike said. "First of all, some players didn't like the higher (10%) vig. I'm also sure we lost some players to the no-smoking policy, although that got the biggest cheer of any announcement in the room today. We upped the entry fee from $1,500 to $2,000, and that probably cost us a few players.
"Finally," Mike added, "if you look at all the major tournaments this year, including the Orleans, attendance is off about 20%, and it's pretty obvious why. So many new tournaments have been added-Tunica and the return of the Hall of Fame are just two of the more obvious examples-that the pool of players can't fill all of them to previous highs right away."
I had a pet theory of my own on this issue, too. Last year's TOC was very well publicized, and a lot of players from smaller cardrooms came for a taste of the big show and glory. I think of a lot of them came, got their souvenirs, got their chance to rub elbows with Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim, and probably realized their chances of getting to the final table weren't all that good. So with the souvenirs and the stories and memories already salted away, probably a fair number of such players decided not to pony up $2,000 for a repeat experience.
The Day One stories weren't all of the "not quite as glorious as last year" variety. Last year the players were treated to Michel Bittan's surprise donation of $5,000 for the first player to make a royal flush (won by Mike Paulle on the tournament's first hand!); this year, tournament starters were happily surprised to hear that George P., a noted Greek player who wanted to remain semi-anonymous, donated not one but three $10,000 vacations for two to the Annabelle Village resort in Crete. These three trips didn't go to royal flushes, but were assigned by random draw, and the big winners were Richard Santos, Odetie Tremblay, and Richard Dunberg.
Bruce Yamron, of Naples, Florida, donated a $1,800 watch to whomsoever would be the chip leader on Day One (the rich getting richer), and while I actually had about a half hour span where I started thinking it might be nice to know what time it is all the time, the watch wound up going to Greg Sellgren, with $42,200.
Former World Champion Russ Hamilton donated a pair of one-carat diamond earrings to the woman who finishes highest in the tournament this year, and with 184 players left in the game, this one is still up for grabs.
Two other interesting donations are also up for grabs. The Amherst Diamond Exchange, in one of those moves towards corporate sponsorship that Sexton and Humphrey have been working so hard on, donated impressive 3 carat diamond and gold bracelets for the event winner, and also gave an identical bracelet to 1999's worthy champion, David Chiu.
Finally-another note for players who were a bit upset at the high vig-TOC, Inc., has donated $18,000 to the prize pool in the form of paid entries to TOC 2001 to this year's nine finalists. I'm not going to Greece, I still don't know what time it is, and I'm the wrong sex for the earrings, but my hopes for some of these other added attractions still live.
So with only a two shot lead and 36 holes to play, can TOC 2000 wind up living up to TOC 1999? Maybe. The Discovery Channel is here, and the quality of the video from the final day should outstrip even the fine tape we had last year. Perhaps even more importantly, the event is being broadcast on live Internet pay-per-view TV, via pokerpages.com, and that will be a poker first.
But I'm not sure that "can TOC 2000 live up to TOC 1999?" is even the right question to be asking. If it's the best tournament in the world in the year 2000, is it a failure? Hard to imagine answering in the affirmative. And Sexton thinks the foundation is being laid for a spectacular TOC 2001, with corporate sponsorship taken to a very different level.
"Some people have complained about the juice, the vig," Mike said, "and I understand how poker players who take the short term view might think that way. But by doing things in the high class we are doing them, by putting on an event rather than just a poker tournament, I think we are putting ourselves in position to add $250,000 or $300,000 to the prize pool next year in corporate added money.
"So if next year, we have 1,000 players, and there's 10% juice ($200,000 to the house), but we're adding $300,000 to the prize pool, do you think anyone is going to care about the juice?" Mike added. "We'd basically be handing everyone $100 in equity to sit down and play-a positive equity event, rather than a negative one, like virtually every other tournament. To me, that's worth some effort to achieve."
In the meanwhile, there's a poker tournament to be won, and with 184 players remaining, an average stack heading into Day Two is $13,236. The challenge of shifting back and forth between three different games remains daunting-it's fun to watch players who clearly favor one game shift into high gear for that one and slink back when they feel like a fish out of water.
"You won't have an amateur winning this championship," David Chiu told me. "It's just too great a test of skill to ask people to play all the different games." Unlike last year, when the rounds were 30 minutes each of limit hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better, and seven card stud, this year the rounds are 25 minutes of hold'em, 30 minutes of stud, and 35 minutes of Omaha eight-or-better, the idea being to get in roughly the same number of hands in each discipline (with stud and Omaha taking longer to complete an average hand).
Our chip leaders heading into Day Two are:
| 1. Greg Sellgren | $42,200 |
| 2. Jean-Bernard Bot | $33,500 |
| 3. Josh Arieh | $33,200 |
| 4. Henry Nowakowski | $30,500 |
| 5. Don Barton | $29,500 |
| 6. Gloria Tschetschot | $29,500 |
| 7. Larry Beilfuss | $28,900 |
| 8. Don Williams | $28,600 |
| 9. Robert Mangino | $28,300 |
| 10. Steve Earlywine | $28,300 |
| 11. Tex Morgan | $27,600 |
| 12. Gene Timberlake | $26,900 |
| 13. Greg Fondacero | $26,700 |
| 14. Mike Shi | $24,800 |
| 15. Johnny Davis | $24,700 |
The prize payouts will be:
1st, $239,400, 2nd, $119,700, 3rd, $71,820
4th, $47,880, 5th, $35,910, 6th, $29,925
7th, $23,940, 8th, $17,955, 9th, $11,970
10th-18th, $10,000; 19th-27th, $8,000; 28th-36th, $6,000, 37th-45th, $4,000.
$24,300 has also already been removed from the prize pool for dealer tips.
End of Day One Chip Count
Total number of players remaining: 184
| Player | Chip Count |
| Greg Sellgren | $42,200 |
| Jean-Bernard Bot | $33,500 |
| Joshua Arieh | $33,200 |
| Henry Nowakowski | $30,500 |
| Don Barton | $29,500 |
| Gloria Tschetschot | $29,500 |
| Larry Beilfuss | $28,900 |
| Don Williams | $28,600 |
| Robert Mangino | $28,300 |
| Steve Earleywine | $28,300 |
| Tex Morgan | $27,600 |
| Gene Timberlake | $26,900 |
| Greg Fondacero | $26,700 |
| Mike Shi | $24,800 |
| Johnny Davis | $24,700 |
| Alan Colon | $23,900 |
| David Pham | $23,900 |
| Roy Thung | $23,900 |
| Todd Bleak | $23,700 |
| Tom McCormick | $23,500 |
| Tex Flaniken | $23,200 |
| Alfredo Leonidas | $23,100 |
| Kevin Song | $22,800 |
| Chris Grigorian | $22,000 |
| Ernest Romano | $21,800 |
| Russ Salzer | $21,400 |
| James McDermott | $21,000 |
| Ron Drew | $20,400 |
| Jeff Shulman | $20,300 |
| Jesus Caampued | $20,300 |
| Young Phan | $20,300 |
| Kahala Carter | $20,200 |
| Mike Matusow | $20,100 |
| Layne Flack | $20,000 |
| Spencer Sun | $19,800 |
| Steve Zolotow | $19,600 |
| Maurice Atlani | $19,300 |
| Sam Grizzle | $19,200 |
| Roberts Braden | $18,900 |
| Susie Isaacs | $18,600 |
| Philippe Zitrone | $18,300 |
| Bruce Peck | $17,900 |
| Sttan Zdanowich | $17,700 |
| Xiao Deng | $17,400 |
| Patrick Bueno | $17,300 |
| Michel Akrich | $17,200 |
| Danny Grant | $17,100 |
| Simon Trumper | $17,100 |
| Scott Numoto | $17,100 |
| David Koekstry | $17,100 |
| Lawrence Colt | $16,900 |
| Spring Cheong | $16,800 |
| Ray Greene | $16,800 |
| Vasili Lazarou | $16,700 |
| Jim Pechac | $16,600 |
| Maria Stern | $16,600 |
| Perry Friedman | $16,200 |
| William Boston | $16,200 |
| Laurent Besnainou | $16,200 |
| Paul McKinney | $15,800 |
| William Fain | $15,800 |
| Kazuhiro Yamazaki | $15,800 |
| Bernard Barouk-Epstein | $15,700 |
| Andy Glazer | $15,600 |
| Andre Boyer | $15,600 |
| P.K. Klevmoen | $15,400 |
| Robert Turner | $15,300 |
| Peter Gershon | $15,000 |
| Hassan Kamoei | $14,700 |
| Charles Jett | $14,600 |
| Bill Munger | $14,600 |
| Michelle Bittan | $14,500 |
| Robert Williamson | $14,300 |
| Ken Flaton | $14,300 |
| Gary Gabler | $14,300 |
| David Rabbi | $14,100 |
| Bill Crego | $14,000 |
| Ned Cruey | $13,900 |
| Larry Canfield | $13,900 |
| Gene Fisher | $13,800 |
| Surindar Sunar | $13,700 |
| Ron Alex | $13,700 |
| Simon Zhang | $13,600 |
| Jim Lester | $13,400 |
| Skip Wilson | $13,400 |
| Louis Asmo | $13,400 |
| David Grey | $13,300 |
| Will Noyes | $13,300 |
| Ken Liener | $13,300 |
| Jack Kopson | $13,300 |
| Hans Pfister | $13,200 |
| Jan Boubli | $13,100 |
| Paul Sherr | $13,100 |
| Jim Bucci | $13,000 |
| Angie Vogler | $12,800 |
| Perry Green | $12,500 |
| Anthony Hamilton | $12,300 |
| Eskimo Clark | $12,200 |
| Alvin High | $11,700 |
| Paul Rowe | $11,600 |
| David Plastik | $11,500 |
| Steve Vladar | $11,400 |
| Sidney Miller | $11,300 |
| Eddie Fishman | $11,200 |
| Jan Chen | $11,100 |
| Robert Sadowski | $11,100 |
| Daniel Negreanu | $10,800 |
| Louis Fein | $10,700 |
| Barry Marfleet | $10,300 |
| Vicki Martinez | $10,300 |
| Fred Coleman | $10,200 |
| James Ward | $10,000 |
| Joe Pharo | $9,900 |
| Nhut Tran | $9,900 |
| Jesse Jones | $9,900 |
| Marc Durand | $9,800 |
| Fred Bowen | $9,700 |
| Harvey Goldstein | $9,700 |
| Alex Papachatzakis | $9,700 |
| Hassan Habib | $9,400 |
| Darrold Sanderlin | $9,400 |
| Mori Eskandani | $9,300 |
| Bill Shalhoob | $9,000 |
| Mike Fetter | $8,700 |
| Mandy Thompson | $8,500 |
| Joe Staito | $8,400 |
| Joe Schulman | $8,300 |
| Michael Bunis | $8,300 |
| Tommy Garza | $8,200 |
| Allen Cunningham | $7,900 |
| Takeshi Kobayashi | $7,600 |
| Barry Johnston | $7,600 |
| Tom (Spider) Webb | $7,600 |
| Marcel Luske | $7,500 |
| Greg Raymer | $7,200 |
| James Tolliver | $7,200 |
| Robert Kojfer | $7,000 |
| Mel Judah | $7,000 |
| Jack Larson | $7,000 |
| J P Massar | $6,800 |
| Roger Van Dreisen | $6,800 |
| David Welch | $6,700 |
| Hirokazu Nagasawa | $6,500 |
| Chris Ferguson | $6,400 |
| David Mason | $6,300 |
| David Chie | $6,200 |
| Don Binford | $6,200 |
| Boris Alic | $6,100 |
| Stephen Couture | $6,000 |
| John McIntosh | $5,900 |
| Minh Nguyn | $5,800 |
| Steve Kwak | $5,800 |
| T J Cloutier | $5,800 |
| Yoshitaka Oku | $5,800 |
| Jerry Rand | $5,500 |
| Kathy Liebert | $5,300 |
| Mark Mitchell | $5,100 |
| Max Roman | $5,100 |
| Jack Wicker | $5,000 |
| Kevin Donaghue | $5,000 |
| Russ Hamilton | $4,800 |
| Judy Marshak | $4,800 |
| Todd Petitt | $4,700 |
| Alan Young | $4,600 |
| Bernard Green | $4,300 |
| Ron Britz | $4,200 |
| Craig DiSalvo | $4,200 |
| Marvin Lang III | $4,200 |
| Billy Thomas | $3,800 |
| Martin Dale | $3,700 |
| Ralph Rudd | $3,700 |
| David Tran | $3,700 |
| Yoshihisa Saito | $3,600 |
| David Reed | $3,400 |
| John Spadavecchia | $3,300 |
| Robert Hull | $3,200 |
| Wayne Stock | $3,200 |
| Luis Jaikel | $2,900 |
| John Charging | $2,900 |
| Pete Kaufman | $2,800 |
| Joe Petro | $2,300 |
| Tom Overton | $2,100 |
| Hiroshi Shimamura | $1,900 |
| Sheridan Steeps | $1,000 |
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