2007 WSOP Diary: Day 28, June 28th

2007 WSOP Diary: Day 28, June 28th


  As we get closer and closer to the main event, there are fewer championships awarded on a daily basis - but oddly enough despite the fact that there are no longer that many bracelets to play for, tempers seem to be getting shorter.



  Before we get into the sort of childish behavior that would be more appropriate on a long car ride with a pair of five year olds who keep whining that one is touching the other, there was a bracelet awarded on this day. Lukasz Dumanski beat out David Bach in Event 42 to win his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet.



  Dumanski had a couple of good showings two years ago, but for some reason missed the WSOP last summer. This was curious seeing as most folks who have done well at the World Series of Poker would rather have their liver removed with shrimp fork than take a season off. He built upon his money finishes in the 36th WSOP, but adding a bracelet to his trophy case in this year's campaign.



  Event 44 is down to a scant 9 players. It would have been 10 but John Juanda couldn't hold on to his precarious grasp on the final table and found himself eliminated a little before everyone retired for the night.



  Even though a championship has been awarded the story of the day was the childish behavior of someone who is in possession of 11 bracelets. Phil Hellmuth had an exchange of words with Justin Bonomo that got beyond simply being heated.



  After the younger Bonomo beat his much crabbier senior player, Hellmuth responded by muttering loud enough for Justin to hear "effing amateur". He followed that up by saying "You've been raising every hand, you can't have a hand ever time!". Unfortunately, he had also said this previously while Justin was playing a hand. This is a no-no at the table and Bonomo was now sick of immaturity of a poker legend.



  An official was called over by Justin who informed him of Phil doing to the rules of etiquette what a dog does to a fire hydrant.



  Phil acknowledged that talking while Bonomo was in a hand was out of line and said he was just steaming and apologized. Justin wasn't interested in his apology, because he had heard this before. Bonomo responded with, "You apologized before. You did it to me in the 50K, you did it to me at Bellagio, you can't influence action while I'm in a hand!" Phil again apologized. Bonomo said, "You apologized before, just stop doing it. You're supposed to be a professional, stop acting like an amateur."



  The official saw this incident was going south quickly. If gloves were part of a poker player's contemporary fashion choices, Justin would have dropped his and pulled Phil's shirt over his head and started pummeling the crabby bracelet record holder.



  Both players were given a warning, and Phil was relocated to another table. There are those of us who are appalled by the sort of behavior that Phil exhibited today. Of course anyone professing to be offended is also rooting for these two to wind up playing heads up for the Event 45 bracelet. This would be more fun than putting two bees in a jar and shaking it until the bugs fight.