Lots of action
Officially, it was billed the "Card Player Player of the Year Awards Gala."
Actually, it might as well have been called the Phil Ivey Invitational.
Because it was the masterful and intimidating Ivey who walked off with the most trophies at the inaugural show put on by Bodog.com, which represented another wonderful step for poker by creating the game's version of the Oscars.
Ivey copped awards for best no-limit player, most feared player, and best heads-up player, which meant three speeches for the guy who gives away words as if they were chips.
The other multiple winner at the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater in Hollywood Wednesday night was Chip Reese, who was named best cash-game player and best mixed-games player. Men "The Master'' Nguyen closed the show by picking up the coveted Player of the Year award.
The rest of the winners: World Series of Poker ($1,000 no-limit hold'em event) and World Poker Tour (Party Poker Million IV) winner Michael Gracz for breakthrough player; WPT commentator Mike Sexton for best poker ambassador; WSOP Player of the Year Allen Cunningham for most underrated player; Jennifer Harman-Traniello for best female player; Daniel Negreanu for favorite player as voted by the fans; Mike Matusow for most entertaining player; and Academy Award-nominated actress and WSOP and WPT ladies champion Jennifer Tilly for best celebrity player as voted by the fans. Doyle Brunson also drew two standing ovations after being presented the lifetime achievement award.
The show featured music from former Eagle Don Felder, whose band blasted the joint with Eagles hits "Hotel California,'' "Life in the Fast Lane,'' and "Take it Easy.''
The star of the night, however, was emcee Brad Garrett. In a word, hysterical.
Garrett is best-known as the plumb, dumb brother on "Everybody Loves Raymond,'' which ended it's successful TV run last year. In fact, that's where Garrett started his monologue, noting that he went from the hit show to hosting this event.
"Where has my career gone in a year?'' he said.
Garrett plays in WSOP and WPT events, and has appeared on Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown,'' but admitted he has a noticeable tell.
"Every time I bluff, I become incontinent,'' he said.
Garrett pretty much emptied the magazine on some of the most familiar poker names.
"Phil Hellmuth is here tonight,'' Garrett said. "No one told me that; I just heard whining.''
Of slightly built former world champion Scotty Nguyen, Garrett said, "Scotty, have a sandwich. You look like my X-ray.''
When Men The Master heckled Garrett, the hulking performer fired back, "Yeah, try to get the shirts back by Wednesday.''
But Garrett saved some of his hardest shots for Matusow, beginning with, "Mike Matusow is nominated tonight, which proves Darwin didn't know [anything].''
Later, Garrett introduced Matusow, who was to present the award for best poker ambassador:
"Having Mike Matusow present the award for poker ambassador is like having Dick Cheney present the award for marksmanship.''
But it was perhaps Negreanu who got off one of the best lines when he accepted his award as favorite player by thanking Ivey for letting him win something.
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NEXT YEAR: Players loved the experience of the gala and had kind words for the program while offering some ideas for the next one.
"I think it'll be better next year,'' Matusow said. "I think they'll use footage of the people playing instead of just clicking pictures [of the nominees on a drop-down screen].''
Added former WPT champion Martin de Knijff: "For it to be bigger, they need to include a European focus. It's very Americanized. Poker is played worldwide. But I think it's a great start.''
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PAGE TURNER: Scott Fischman, an Internet maniac on his poker site The Fish Tank, is coming out with a book on online poker called "Online Ace: Learn How to Out-think the Game.'' It's due before this year's World Series.
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ACTION DAN: Dan Harrington, the 1995 world champion who has Volume 3 of the phenomenally successful "Harrington on Hold'em'' series coming out, played in the WPT's L.A. Poker Classic that began the day after the Card Player Player of the Year Awards Gala and is scheduled to play in several other events over the next two months, but said he'll scale down his schedule in hopes of playing one main event a month.
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SHOWTIME: Harman-Traniello said she left a juicy poker game at the Commerce Casino -- six-figure juicy -- to make the gala. She plays in a lot of events that get on television, despite being harshly critical of her own play when she sees it. Harman-Traniello drew criticism on some poker forums for her play in one episode of GSN's "High Stakes Poker'' and says she will get a lot more for a hand she misplayed that hasn't been shown yet.
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SHOWTIME, PART II: Hellmuth is working on landing a commentator spot on Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown'' that belonged to another Phil: Gordon, who will not be back for the next season. Hellmuth, who recently shot some Arena Football League commercials with legendary Bears coach Mike Ditka, the co-owner of the AFL's Chicago Rush, said he would try to get Ditka on the show if he gets the gig.
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TELL ME: Swiss poker pro Chris Bigler says watching televised poker has allowed him to pick up tells -- on himself.
"I saw something,'' Bigler said, " and now I use it as a false tell.''
Bigler might get to see a lot of himself on television soon, it turns out.
"There are three TV stations in Switzerland, and they all want to do a special on me,'' Bigler said. "I'm the only poker player from Switzerland.''
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MORE BIGLER: Day 3 of the L.A. Poker Classic began with Bigler 12th in chips. It also began after the Swiss team stunned Canada with a 2-0 shutout in the Olympics.
"We used to be an alpine country with our Olympic skiers,'' the personable Bigler said. "Then I thought we were a tennis nation with people like Martina Hingis. Now, maybe we're a hockey nation.''
Irony of the day: Bigler was seated at Table 12, Seat 7. Sitting across from his was Travis Green, center for the Boston Bruins and a native of British Columbia who was at the event because the NHL took an extended break as its top players suited up for their countries in the Winter Games in Italy.
Said Green, working the small stack: "Maybe Canada will upset the Swiss today in poker.''
Then again, maybe not. Green went out at the end of the second level on Day 3, missing the money by about 35 players. Green, however, has game. He picked up hold'em during last year's NHL lockout and cashed three times in six WSOP events in 2005, finishing 12th in a no-limit tournament.
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NO-SHOWS: Howard Lederer, Chris "Jesus'' Ferguson, Greg Raymer, Annie Duke and Andy Bloch were some of the notable absentees from the L.A. Poker Classic. They have been fighting the language of the waiver the WPT requires players to sign. The players believe it is too onerous regarding the use of their images in products, such as video games.
Steve Rosenbloom's book "The Best Hand I Ever Played" is available at bookstores everywhere. A regular contributor to ESPN.com, he is also author of a syndicated column for the Chicago Tribune. To leave Steve some feedback or ask him a question for his column, check out his mailbag.
