In a poker world where high rollers are increasingly common, and by now a structural a part of any schedule, there always should be a tournament to one-up the remaining. The large One for One Drop Extravaganza is fulfilling that role to perfection.
After $1,000,000-buy in editions on the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas in 2012 and 2014, all the circus has descended upon the lavish French riviera town of Monte Carlo, Monaco.
The parameters were altered a little with the buy-in upped to €1,000,000, the choice to reenter until the beginning of Day 2 and the stipulation that no professional players could enter. The rule of thumb changes had some people up in arms, especially when the players entered and it turned out a few of them certainly weren't the recreational players one might recall to mind when Guy Laliberté announced, "Non-pros only."
But, within the end, it was like Daniel Negreanu said in an interview with PokerNews.
"Basically, if Guy desires to let someone play, he can allow them to play. It's that simple," he said.
And so regular players at the pro circuit like Talal Shakerchi and Paul Newey entered, joining former poker pros Andrew Pantling, Mark Teltscher and Jason Strasser.
After a sumptuous lunch at noon, the tournament started at 2 p.m. local time. The most costly poker tournament within the game's history was underway and a complete of twenty-two players initially sat down. They started with an excessive 5,000,000 in chips and blinds at 6,000/12,000 - over 400 big blinds.
It was a pleasing sight: Big towers of chips fitted right in with the extravagant interior of the Casino du Monte-Carlo with gold plated ornaments at the ceilings and dear high pile carpet resulting in a marble balcony overlooking the Monte-Carlo bay area. The setting and atmosphere were excellent. The workers was dressed for the occasion, a sumptuous buffet awaited the players all the time and firstclass dealers added to the allure of something exclusive.
Big One for One Drop Extravaganza €1,000,000 Buy-In Players
It didn't take long before the fireworks started. It was Guy Laliberté, the French-Canadian organizer of the event, pushing the action early on. He first was caught check-raise bluffing the river against Anatoly Gurtovoy. That set Laliberté off within the wrong direction and things only got worse from there. He ran top-pair and top-kicker into the top-set of Patrick Madden and identical to that, Laliberté was all the way down to only some big blinds. He lost those to Bob Safai not much later, ending up short with ace-ten against ace-king.
"He got it as much as 5 million!" teased coach Daniel Negreanu, hinting at a potential reentry for Laliberté which might grant him a crisp five million-stack. And so the previous Cirque du Soleil owner did, buying back in for one more €1,000,000 to present it another shot.
"He approached me a couple of month ago," Negreanu told PokerNews during a break in play. "I BELIEVED it gave the impression of fun and that i desired to support an ideal cause. I came a couple of days early. We’ve been hanging out on his yacht and facing a couple of things."
While those pointers didn't pay dividends on Laliberté’s first bullet, Negreanu was confident in Laliberté’s abilities.
“He’s more relaxed now. He’s cooled off a little bit and so I’m going to let him come to me when he wants to," said Negreanu.
Meanwhile, as Laliberté was just sitting down again for try No. 2, Bobby Baldwin made his exit from the tournament. Baldwin had gotten extremely short and finally ran pocket nines into pocket kings. Baldwin didn't buy back in, though it will be noted he can still choose to accomplish that anytime before the beginning of Day 2.
Andrew Pantling, now the CEO of betting platform Matchbook (but in a former life a poker pro referred to as "ClockWyze" online), wasn't having the most efficient of days. He lost several pots to become the fast stack of the tournament when the dinner break commenced and busted the tournament shortly after play resumed. It wasn't long before Pantling bought back in as well, setting up another €1,000,000 to maintain the risk of stardom and a large financial reward alive.
The atmosphere was as relaxed as many high rollers are. There have been still quite a lot of poker pros around, but they weren't playing. They were coaching. Not they all were as busy with their role as others.
While Vanessa Selbst watched every hand of David Einhorn and Negreanu kept a detailed eye on Laliberté, the likes of Andrew Robl (coach of Jason Strasser) and Jean-Robert Bellande (coach of Bobby Baldwin) didn't move from their cash game table once through the entire day.
In the end, a complete of 26 players signed up and two reentries were made to get to a complete of 28. Twenty-four players will get back at noon for the beginning of Day 2 where the goal is to minimize to a last table of eight players.
Leading the best way is Alfred de Carolis (leading photo) who'll bring 13,825,000 in chips, good for 115 big blinds at first of play. Second in chips is Dan Shak who has Scott Seiver on his side as a coach. Tony Bloom (1,200,000) and Zuo Wang (1,840,000) are on the bottom of the pack.
PokerNews.com will again be at the floor for live updates, interviews and photos from the extravagant event.
| 9 | 1 | Pau Phua | 6,455,000 | 54 |
| 9 | 2 | Tony Bloom | 1,200,000 | 10 |
| 9 | 3 | Elton Tsang | 7,920,000 | 66 |
| 9 | 4 | Brandon Steven | 8,850,000 | 74 |
| 9 | 5 | Guy Laliberte | 4,000,000 | 33 |
| 9 | 6 | Mark Teltscher | 3,750,000 | 31 |
| 9 | 7 | James Bord | 7,375,000 | 61 |
| 9 | 8 | Pat Madden | 4,275,000 | 36 |
| 10 | 1 | Rick Salomon | 2,255,000 | 19 |
| 10 | 2 | Cary Katz | 6,220,000 | 52 |
| 10 | 3 | Alfred de Carolis | 13,825,000 | 115 |
| 10 | 4 | Zuo Wang | 1,840,000 | 15 |
| 10 | 5 | Andrew Pantling | 7,600,000 | 63 |
| 10 | 6 | Paul Newey | 2,805,000 | 23 |
| 10 | 7 | Jason Strasser | 5,585,000 | 47 |
| 10 | 8 | David Einhorn | 8,375,000 | 70 |
| 11 | 1 | Bob Safai | 4,600,000 | 38 |
| 11 | 2 | Haralabos Voulgaris | 8,765,000 | 73 |
| 11 | 3 | Anatoly Gurtovoy | 4,475,000 | 38 |
| 11 | 4 | Sean Dempsey | 6,380,000 | 53 |
| 11 | 5 | Pierre Garand | 3,585,000 | 30 |
| 11 | 6 | Talal Shakerchi | 6,280,000 | 52 |
| 11 | 7 | Yaqi Sun | 2,645,000 | 22 |
| 11 | 8 | Dan Shak | 10,735,000 | 89 |
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