Bathroom Bruhaha plus Empire Bonus
Empire
First off, if you play at Empire, you MUST go and jump on an unadvertised bonus. It’s a 100% match up to $500, 5x work rate in 30 days. I just did it and immediately got the confirmation email and it checked out in my bonus account.
The code is MATCHBONUSEP and is apparently available to everybody even though there is no popup. Get it while it’s hot. Man, I’ve got 3500 hands to burn in the next 30 days, plus new Crypto bonuses in a couple of days. Great times for bonus whores.
Phil and the Bathroom Bruhaha
I watched ESPN Classic’s broadcast of the 1996 US Poker Open last night and was excited to see Surinder Sunar and Phil Hellmuth at the same final table. I was figuring this could be good and I was not disappointed. This was still before hole cams and instead of Dick Van Patten we got Gabe Caplan to do the commentary, so it that part was OK at best. The real excitement was Phil (gee, go figure). He’s the chip leader and of course figures he’s going to win. There’s an amateur at the table who takes it upon himself to go after Phil in an interview. They then interview Phil and the guy is standing right off to the side. Phil gets all flustered saying that he’s the best, but he’s going to go after this guy just to prove it to him.
Cut to the table and whenever Phil goes in or makes a big play or virtually anything, he stands up, goes to the rail and his mom comes over to give him support. Classic.
The best Phil moment, however, spanned a commercial break and caused a lot of “controversy”, dubbed the “Bathroom Bruhaha” by ESPN. It was evidently in the middle of the session with 90 minutes before the next break. Phil stands up in between a hand and says he has to go to the bathroom and would it be OK if they took a break. Four of the remaining people say OK, but a crotchety Vegas pro immediately to Phil’s left, who has been pissed because whenever Phil comes into a pot he raises, says No. This sends Phil on tilt and he just keeps going on about it. The next hand is dealt and the NY guy they interviewed told Phil to run as he’d use up all his time when the action got to him. The camera pulls back and shows Phil running out of the casino to the bathroom. The Vegas guy then goes off on the TD. The TD says there’s nothing he can do, each player is allowed his full minute to make a decision. They’re showing this guy going crazy while the NY guy just sits back in his chair with a smirk on his face. Pull back to see Phil running back in, then saunter back to his seat. Play then goes on with Phil raising and taking the pot uncontested. LV guy then goes off on Phil about holding up the game. Phil barbs back saying that LV guy held up the start for 10 minutes while he was outside and didn’t hear the call to start. It was hilarious.
Ultimately Phil gets third after getting careless with his big stack. LV guy goes on to win. The poker was pretty good, the production was a bit lacking due to the lack of hole cams but Gabe Kaplan was better than Dick Van Patten. One funny thing was that they showed Yasmine Bleeth playing (placed 40th or so) and who was her coach? None other than Hollywood Home Game Champ, Vince Van Patten. Mike Sexton was there giving commentary to some other outlet too. Pretty good stuff overall despite the lack of hole cams.
September 29th, 2004 at 4:52 am
Hey Just wondering.
September 29th, 2004 at 4:52 am
Hey Just wondering about that Bonus code. I tried it and no-go. Maybe they turned it off. Oh well? Does it appear immediatlly?
October 6th, 2004 at 5:58 am
What’s the deal with that Vince Van Patten guy? What does hollywood home game champ mean? No skill?
I’ve been wondering about this because his commentary on the WPT is usually not that good imo, and it seems as if Sexton is constantly correcting him or kidding around with him.