Throwback: Phil Ivey vs Tom Dwan on Million-Dollar Pot
David Tuchman, who specializes in sports commentating for football and poker, recalls the awesome moments he witnessed as he commentated on a remarkable hand between Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan.
It was in the Full Tilt Poker Million Dollar Cash Game around nine years ago that there were only three men, namely Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius battling it out at a poker table as midnight drew near.
David Tuchman, renowned poker commentator, fondly described his personal experience about the event, "We covered the Million Dollar Cash Game for three and a half years, and it taught me a lot about poker and broadcasting. I got to work with a great director called Martin Turner, who didn't know poker at all; he was doing rugby for Sky Sports. He was a super guy, helped me come over to London and eventually took over Formula 1."
"But it was funny because he didn't know poker. There was a hand the first year where Ivey beat Antonius in a big hand, trip aces versus a full house, Ivey couldn't get away from it, and we'd brought in extras to make it look like people were watching the game. Turner had all the extras clap like it was a sporting event. It was like after a great point in a tennis match; you'd keep quiet during the point then once it was over, you'd cheer. That was what he was going for, but it was so cringeworthy. I love him, though; he's a brilliant director who taught me so much about TV and broadcasting."
After the showdown, Tuchman said he has followed Dwan and Ivey's careers and respects both men a lot.
He said about Phil Ivey, "I've seen all the players since, but I never talked about the hand. I'd rather not get punched by Phil Ivey after saying ‘Say, Phil, it was so awesome to commentate on you - how did it feel to lose that huge pot?' Ivey was already a legend when that hand took place. He was the mysterious guy in poker who spoke so little but carried a big sword. In many ways, he was what everybody wanted to be. We'd all heard the stories of him playing underage in Atlantic City as ‘Jerome.' When you thought of Ivey, even though he wasn't an older man, but in many ways, he was considered an old soul. It's obvious that Phil Ivey thinks about life, the game of poker, the world in a different way that most of us do. He's intelligent on a level that many of us, maybe even he himself, might not be able to understand or articulate."
Nevertheless, Tuchman also admires Dwan on his poker prowess, "I was enamored with Tom Dwan; he was Mickey Mantle to me. He'd emerged from online poker and was a relatively new face, still becoming a man but taking the world by storm. Dwan played online poker in a carefree, reckless, unbelievably aggressive manner that hundreds of young poker players did at that time. The amount of variance that anybody playing that style would get probably forces 99% of them to be broke. One went against all the odds and became Tom Dwan. Shaun Deeb said to me once: ‘If I didn't run well the first six months of me playing, there's no way I'd be a poker player. I sucked! I ran like a god though. I made a ton of money, then I learned how to play.' To me, that's probably Tom Dwan. When he stuck it in with a draw against a set, he won. The confidence built, the bankroll built and a legend grew. It's hard to play against a guy like that because it feels like he's playing Hold'em with three cards. It's scary."
Watch the video here:
Source:
https://ift.tt/2AbQjGS
from BankrollMob News - Poker / Casino / Betting
Post a Comment