After some comments by Daniel Negreanu last winter about Phil Hellmuth being past it when it comes to his World Series of Poker prowess, most of us wanted to see the Poker Brat and Kid Poker take their grudge to the felt during a tournament. Unfortunately Phil did everything in his power to prove Daniel right. For the most part you could clock Phil’s WSOP tournament survival with an egg timer. We didn’t get to see these two poker pros playing against each other in a meaningful way during the World Series of Poker Europe poker tournaments either. Instead we were treated to a proxy war; one where Negreanu played No Limit Texas Hold'em against Hellmuth’s Main Event protégé, Barry Shulman.
Barry Shulman is the CEO of CardPlayer Magazine. Not only does his magazine write about poker pros, but he is rather accomplished in the sport himself. Despite his success, a WSOP Main Event was uncharted territory for Shulman. He enlisted the help of Phil Hellmuth as a trainer to help him learn the subtleties of Main Event level Texas Hold'em. When the WSOP Europe Main Event got down to two players, it was Shulman, and Hellmuth’s old rival and detractor, Daniel Negreanu.
In the poker tournaments last hour, Negreanu had the chip lead and the flop had given him a top pair; Jacks. He called a Shulman all-in bet and found, to his dismay, that he was facing a pair of Aces. The turn gave Negreanu a set of Jacks, and some real hope that he was going to be the Main Events winner. This was quickly squashed when the river gave Barry a set of Aces. He doubled up and Daniel was on life support. In the final hand Shulman’s pocket tens walked all over Negreanu’s pocket fours; especially with a third ten falling on the flop. Barry Shulman had won the WSOP Europe Main Event and learned a lesson that you don’t need an eleven time bracelet winner to tell you about; you can’t teach blind luck.
