5-Star Classic: Seat 9 at The Table of Death

And what was the blood-curdling spectacle behind all this widespread distress? Well, picture this: you’re a promising young player, still learning all you can about the game. You have been watching the World Poker Tour, the World Series of Poker, and the multitude of other poker shows on television. Your heroes are all the poker legends and your mission in life is to be able to buy into a WPT main event and beat the best at their own game.

A typical youngster with no cash to get into a big tourney, you play an
online satellite for a seat at the $15,300 buy-in at the Bellagio. You are able to combine your skill and a great deal of luck and parlay that into a win. Yes! Your seat is locked up; hotel, airfare, and some spending money are taken care of. You notify your friends and family who, upon learning that first place will be more than $1.5 million, immediately move you to the top of their speed dials and hand you their Christmas wish lists.In the days leading up to the tournament your phone begins ringing off the hook with wellwishers (moochers) offering you great pearls of wisdom that you had never considered; things like, “Play good”, and “Do your best”.

The day you’ve spent your entire life preparing for finally arrives and you show up at the Bellagio ready to rock! Arriving at the sign-in desk, you have a solid plan in mind. You are going to avoid playing any pots with professional players, should you be unlucky enough to draw a table with one. Your plan is to identify the fish at your table and exploit their weaknesses.

You draw table 46, seat 9, and walk through the casino to find your seat. Arriving at the table, the first person you notice is Evelyn Ng, seated in seat 7. You were hoping not to have any pros at your table, but at least Evelyn is prettier to look at than Doyle. You introduce yourself to the only other two players already seated and, to your dismay, learn that they are Jim “Krazy Kanuck” Worth and Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie, two well-known and respected internet players. Definitely not what you were looking for and you can only hope the rest of the table fills up with unknown amateurs.

That’s when the horror begins....

Ted Forrest, owner of three WSOP bracelets, arrives and sits in seat 1. Then 1996 World Champion Huck Seed plops down in seat 10. As you sit there stunned, Gus Hansen, three-time WPT winner, sits in seat 4 and Martin “The Knife” De Knijff, winner of the WPT championship event sits in seat 5.

It only gets worse...

1998 World Champion Scotty Nguyen arrives and sits in seat 8. Your table of death is complete when Antonio ìThe Magicianî Esfandiari sits in seat 6. Looking around in disbelief, you realize that the imminent and catastrophic death of your short tournament career is upon you. The players at your table have won a total of 13 WSOP gold bracelets, five WPT championships, numerous online tournament championships
and thousands of final table appearances.

Needless to say, you are outplayed at every level and out of the five-day contest in only four hours. You sulk off to your room, feeling very sore indeed.

This is what happened at this year’s 5-Star World Poker Classic. The unlucky recipient of seat 9 was one Barry Finn. By the end of day one, this table broke three separate people out of seat 9. WPT cameras hovered around all day recording the action and the throng of observers watching was four deep around the rail. Tournament director Jack McClelland agreed that this was the most difficult table he had seen in his whole career.

This starting table from hell also defeated Gus Hansen and Antonio Esfandiari. At the end of day one, the relief on the faces of those still surviving was palpable - day two would start with a complete redraw for new tables. The surviving players bagged up their chips and, knees still trembling, staggered away. None would ever forget their experience at The Table of Death.