The Intramural Sports Texas Hold 'em Tournament ended with a bang Thursday night at the Red Gym with the nine tournament champions dealing against nine-time World Series of Poker champion Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth, a UW-Madison alumnus, has won $3.6 million since his first WSOP win in 1989.
According to Matt Horst, intramural sports director, the tournament was able to secure Hellmuth for free through his academic history and family connections. His father is a UW-Madison associate dean of the college of Letters and Sciences.
\We made the contact and Phil contacted us, so here we are ... It's a great opportunity,"" Horst said.
Players showed only a little added tension in playing a heavyweight like Hellmuth. Brian Lomas, a UW-Madison junior who won the second intramural tournament, said before the game he intended to approach it like any other game: expecting to win.
""I don't really play any differently every time I play,"" Lomas said. ""[Hellmuth's] not much different from anyone else, but he's really good, so there's a little nerves.""
UW-Madison freshman Brandon ""Gameface"" Schultz agreed he would not change his style just for this match, but that Hellmuth's experience would make him play carefully. ""This guy's really good ... I expect him to talk a lot of smack and get us all riled up.""
While Hellmuth entered late due to a book signing, he entered full of energy, joking with the players that the game should be over in about 30 minutes and offering strategy advice as the game got started. Among his insights, he shared his belief in poker's randomness: ""If it wasn't for luck, I'd win them all.""
Although Hellmuth won the first two hands by throwing in large bets, UW-Madison student Abdalla Salah quickly took the lead. Playing in the majority of the hands, Salah took the first three players out of the game, using two pocket pairs of aces and an ace-high flush to more than double his chip lead.
Tom '""Rocketman"" Stendel, a UW-Madison mechanical engineer, was the first person to go out, losing on a pair of queens to Salah's aces. Stendel said it did not matter that it was not Hellmuth that took him out, and was just disappointed to lose.
""It sucks ... but anyone can play poker and get good cards,"" Stendel said.
Hellmuth said he was glad to be playing in Madison, and enjoyed seeing the sizeable interest.
""In the old days the administration tried to get us to stop, and in the new days they've set up intramural tournaments ... I like the new days,"" Hellmuth said.
