After an hour of listening to the band at last night's cocktail party (think Journey mixed with Maroon 5), Mike Sexton was introduced as one of the ESPN commentators for the Doyle Brunson & Dewey Tomko Invitational. Mike's charisma on stage was a welcome addition to the subdued atmosphere. He quickly introduced the fellows who will be calling the shots with him: Joe Tessitore and Billy Ray Brown.
“I’m more excited about this event than anything else I do because I really have no idea what the hell is going to happen,” exclaimed Tessitore, a well-seasoned sports commentator. Although Brown’s imposing presence hinted at his family’s professional football history, he’s a former PGA tour member turned on-course reporter.
Erick Lindgren had invited JDN and I to join what Mike dubbed the “youngsters” table. Daniel Negreanu quickly informed us that “youngsters” is how the old-school gamblers are referring to their three-man team of “suckers.” It was hard to tell if they’re simply doing what’s expected from any good hustler or if E-Dog, Daniel, and Josh Arieh seriously have doubts about their ability to compete with these guys.
I’m guessing it has to be a mixture of both since their three-man team will be playing for $1,000,000 a hole today over 9 holes.
Even the best player in the room has to be sweating at least a bit over that heady of a number. This event is truly unprecedented—the prize pool today will be larger than any golf tournament in the world. If all goes well and ratings are high enough on ESPN this will simply be the first stop on a high-stakes golf “tour.”
The inspiration for the event comes from Sports Illustrated’s back page author, Rick Reilly. Reilly’s 2003 book Who’s Your Caddy? documents his experience as a caddy for golf greats including Jack Nicklaus, John Daly, and David Duval. He also spent some time as a caddy for some high stakes gamblers—including Dewey Tomko. Reilly is one of the partners in High Stakes Entertainment, the company behind the proposed tour.
After filling us in on some of the story behind this event, Mike asked Doyle and Dewey to come on stage. The Texas Dolly wasted no time in expressing some disappointment as pulled the microphone close to him and muttered, “Mike, my only objection about this whole thing is you’re not in it.”
Player introductions for the three-man scramble followed and the hustling was not far behind it. “I don’t know. I’m old and broke down. I think I need a few strokes,” claimed former main-event champion Russ Hamilton when asked about his team’s chances. Unfortunately he was left shaking his head when teammate Phil Hellmuth started killing their side action by announcing, “I’m playing as good as I have in my life.” At least we know why Phil was invited.
E-Dog, Josh, and Daniel were introduced next and when Mike asked him about how he thought they would do, Erick motioned to Phil and stated, “If it weren’t for negotiations, we’d win ‘em all.” You can already tell who the whipping boy is going to be over the next few days. I’ll probably have enough material for an entire post dedicated to digs on Hellmuth.
The highlight of the evening was Venetian headliner Gordie Brown’s 15 minute appearance on stage. Things started off a bit rough for the impressionist, but his comedy found it’s groove when he brought out his George Bush impersonation. One of the fellows decked out in full cowboy regalia got up from Doyle’s table and, in jest, started to leave. Brown had a field day on him before turning his attention to Brunson, whose seat at the table was facing away from the stage. “Doyle’s a legend, I’ve been a big fan and followed him on TV. Wow, that’s the only thing I’ve said all night that finally got his ass to turn around.”
It’s now 8:40 AM on Wednesday which means it’s time for me to head to the golf course. However, I’m still left wondering about the look on Daniel’s face last night. Was the fear in his eyes all part of working the hustle, or was it truly genuine? Their team could possibly lose more money in a few hours than my entire family makes in a year (and I have plenty of siblings). Playing for a million bucks a hole on nine holes probably means that it's much more likely that one teams leaves the course a huge loser than it does another being a big winner.
