Continued from Part Four...
Today we hand the reins solely over to the Voice of Poker, Jesse May, as he takes at look at some of the other players involved in the Isildur tale. You may associate his dulcet tones with the world of televised poker, but Jesse is just as enthusiastic when it comes to keeping a close eye on the virtual felt, in particular the nosebleed stakes on Full Tilt. At the tail end of 2009, the American born commentator remained glued to his monitor, watching Isildur like a hawk as he took on the some of the biggest names in poker. Without any shadow of doubt, Jesse bordered on obsessed, but it’s an addiction that many of us possessed.
Last time we looked at durrrr, but in Part Five, Jesse gives us his thoughts on Brian Townsend, Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey and how they faired over those manic few weeks.
Talent Is for Sponsorship Deals
Brian Townsend:
Background: Townsend is one of the new breed of players to have worked their way to the top through hard work alone. Starting at $0.25/0.50, he gradually climbed up the stakes before reaching some of the highest stakes available, making sbrugby one of the most feared monikers in the game. Townsend may be a lead instructor with popular tutorial site CardRunners, but with impressive appearances on High Stakes Poker and Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash Game, he has shown he can ‘kick it’ with the big boys on both versions of the felt.
Tale of the tape: Townsend mainly played Pot Limit Omaha against Isildur, winning a total of $1.57 million over the course of 17,725 hands. The majority of that figure came at the end of November. Overall, Townsend turned a profit of $2.4 million for 2009, $1.3 million of which was in HORSE.
Jesse May says...
The player who revealed nearly as much about his character during these landmark days in the history of poker was Brian Townsend. For it was only two years ago when he started a path that was much like Isildur. Rising through the ranks of No Limit Hold’em, taking on all comers, and looking to challenge himself with an attitude that he couldn’t be beaten. Cold reality came in the form of Bobby Baldwin and the big game at the Bellagio.
BTW: Baldwin, who if you realize that nothing has happened to in the poker world except repeats of the human condition, was once an Isildur and a Townsend himself. His book Bobby Baldwin’s Winning Poker Secrets has been lost to history, a shame because in some ways it’s the most realistic poker book that was ever written. The first edition was a very limited release. When the second edition came out, they took out all the good parts, they took out all the truths. There was no place for them in the poker world, a very revealing account of how Bobby Baldwin really came up. One part in the book was a section entitled Your Bankroll. Read it yourself.
Back to Brian Townsend. He lost a million dollar pot to Bobby Baldwin, who showed him that talent is for sponsorship deals, and then Brian showed a tremendous amount of character. He owned up, he went into his shell, he dropped down in stakes. He went back to work. He spent over a year teaching himself Pot Limit Omaha, and took to heart all the intangibles about the game that have nothing to do with talent: bankroll management, game selection, work and study. By the time the opportunity came to take on Isildur, Townsend had put himself back into the highest stakes arena with a few caveats. He was not going to let Isildur break him. He was going to dictate terms, and he gamed Isildur something fierce. At first he refused to play him higher than $200/400. He played him in short sessions. He painstakingly went over every hand. He jumped into the fray when Isildur had already been playing many hours and was a bit tilted up. And then, when it became clear that they were going to have to play Isildur at $500/1,000 or not at all, he put the team together.
It should be noted that everything I write about Townsend’s actions during this period is a guess, an assumption. I have no knowledge of what really happened, I only know Brian casually and have no direct line to his deal. But what I think happened is that he gathered together a whole team of people to launch a combined bankroll to play Isildur. I’m guessing that some of the shareholders didn’t even play. I’m guessing that the principals were Cole South, Brian Townsend and Brian Hastings. I’m guessing that Townsend was player number one and that Cole was player number two and that Hastings was player number three. It just happened to be Hastings that broke Isildur in the end, but it could have been anyone.
They tracked his every hand, his every movement and his emotional state. They tag-teamed him old school, like the way the big boys broke Huck Seed in the nineties and Stu Ungar in the eighties. They were relentless, they were 24 hours a day, they lived and breathed this mission. At no point did they reckon that they were liable to beat Isildur on even terms, but that’s not what poker is about. And there was nothing shady or illegal, in my mind, about the way this coup was done. There was no cheating, there was just execution at its highest level and attention to detail when it comes to millions of dollars. They didn’t beat Isildur at the game of poker. They beat him at a game of character. And Townsend has shown that when it comes to character, he has a whole handful.
Patrik Antonius:
Background: Previously a limit heads-up player, former tennis player/coach Patrik Antonius has established himself as one of the best players in the world, specializing in mixed games and Pot Limit Omaha. Calm and collective, he is undeniably one of the coolest cucumbers in the game, and has even excelled live with over $2.8 million in tournament winnings including the 2005 EPT Baden title.
Tale of the tape: Antonius’ encounters with Isildur have been epic and produced some of the biggest hands in history, including a $1.35 million Pot Limit Omaha pot on Nov 22. Isildur may have had the beating of Antonius at Hold’em, but in Omaha, it was the Finn who ruled the roost. His shrewd game selection and refusal to play Hold’em led to a $2.2 million profit over the Swede in 22,230 hands. Overall, Antonius earned a near nine million for the year, making him 2010’s biggest winner at the cash tables.
Jesse May says...
We all knew Patrik was cold as ice. You only have to look at him. But what was confirmed during his sessions with Isildur were two things for sure. One, that Patrik has no friends in the world of poker, and two, that his bigger picture was that he was never going to get so involved as to let Isildur threaten what he already has: a very nice life. Patrik played Isildur a whole bunch of times, but never in desperation and never because of ego. And after a while he refused to play him at Hold’em full stop.
At one point, it seemed that even Patrik felt like the swings required to take on Isildur were a little out of control and not the smartest move for his bankroll management. He did things that are completely legal while not exactly spirited, like lurking at empty tables while Isildur was already involved, trying to lure him to his own games. Not exactly the kind of thing that is going to make you best friends.
He also showed a huge amount of capability in quitting while behind, and not letting Isildur threaten his bankroll or income. He cared, but was not going to let this be a tuning point in his life. He’s worked too hard to get where he is. Antonius is a guy with all the brains and all the talent, and no interest in the poker world any more except as a source of his lifestyle. Even gamble with him seems a calculated ploy. He is one cool runner.
Phil Ivey:
Background: Phil Ivey is consistently labeled as the greatest poker player on the planet, and with good reason. With over $12.2 million in tournament winnings and 7 WSOP bracelets to his name, he has been a formidable live player for a number of years, but has also surprised many by proving his worth at the online felt too. An indispensable member of Team Full Tilt, Ivey can often be spotted at the nosebleed stakes, taking on whoever has the nerve to challenge him.
Tale of the tape: Ivey hasn’t played Isildur as much as others (6,372 hands, to be precise), but has won almost $3 million off him nonetheless and played a major part in his eventual downfall. They played both No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha together with their biggest pot reaching $832 940.
Jesse May says...
Ivey answered a question that has been posed with such a resounding clap that the question need never be asked again. Phil Ivey does have so much money that he just didn’t care. The stakes, big enough to make every other person in the poker world squirm, weren’t even high enough to fascinate his interest more than mildly. Ivey dabbled against Isildur with success, and could easily have been the one to break him. But five or seven million just didn’t captivate him enough to make him drop everything and have his tongue hang out to put the time in and wait. Phil just let it sort itself out and continued on with his life.
In the scheme of the whole story, only Phil Ivey can really give a belly laugh. He has beaten the poker world so bad that he may never be taken down from the top. This is the guy we can still all talk about, the immortal, he is the top of the tree in the poker world. Ivey is number one when it comes to the player.
Read Part Six...
To read previous articles and hear more from pro's such as Ben Grundy, Richard Ashby and Nik Persaud, also see:
Isildur: A Pro's Perspective - Part One: A Hero Arrives
Isildur: A Pro's Perspective - Part Two: Snakes & Ladders
Isildur: A Pro's Perspective - Part Three: Battle of Hastings
Isildur: A Pro's Perspective - Part Four: Last Man Standing