This
One’s For Charlie Tuttle:
Barry Greenstein wins second gold bracelet,
dedicates emotional victory to cancer
patient in Tennessee
At
halftime of the 1928 Notre Dame-Army game,
coach Knute Rockne reportedly told his
players a rousing story about George Gipp,
a great football player who died a tragic
death. Stirred by the emotional sermon,
the team returned to the field and ended
up winning the game. The scene was later
immortalized in a 1940 movie Knute Rockne
– All American starring Ronald Reagan.
“Win one for the Gipper” eventually became
a catchphrase used to inspire down and
out causes.
When
professional poker player Barry Greenstein
heard the heartbreaking story of a terminally
ill cancer patient named Charlie Tuttle,
he was so touched that he vowed to dedicate
his victory in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha
to Charlie. During a seven-hour final
table battle, Greenstein played with unparalleled
determination. In one of the most flawless
performances ever seen in the 36-year
history of the World Series of Poker,
Greenstein played mistake-free poker and
captured his second gold bracelet. Although
$128,505 was paid for first place, money
and fame were the last things on Greenstein’s
mind.
Showing
uncharacteristic emotion, Greenstein took
comfort in the arms of mutual friends
who share a special connection to a young
man now resting in the Intensive Care
Unit at Vanderbilt Hospital. For a few
minutes immediately following his personal
triumph, Greenstein was unable to speak
and silently bowed his head trying to
conceal his obvious empathy and compassion.
The muse for Greenstein’s rousing victory
was Charlie Tuttle, a 26-year-old online
poker player who lives in Clarksville,
Tennessee. Sadly, Charlie was diagnosed
with cancer which has now spread throughout
his body. Charlie has tumors pressing
against his lungs and has difficulty breathing.
Some time ago, Fellow poker pro Marcel
Luske found out about Charlie and made
a special effort to comfort a man he had
never seen nor met in-person before. In
fact, during one stirring telephone exchange,
Luske called Charlie and sang to him over
the phone while resting in the hospital.
Those who were with Charlie at the time
recall him “laughing for the first time
in several weeks,” when he heard Luske’s
singing voice.
Stories, both happy and sad, have their
way of spreading throughout the poker
community like a whirlwind. Barry Greenstein
heard about Charlie’s condition. He, too,
decided that he wanted to do something
that might provide some degree of consolation
and gratification to a member of the poker
fraternity. As in Luske’s case, it didn’t
matter that he’d never even met this man.
Doing a good deed is not just an axiom.
It is a way of life for Barry Greenstein
(Note: To read more about Charlie Tuttle,
see the poker blog by Paul McGuire at:
http://taopoker.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_taopoker_archive.html#111877977591181655
The
total prize pool in Event #19 amounted
to $426,315. The final table included
three former gold bracelet winners – Chris
‘Jesus’ Ferguson (with 5 wins), Barry
Greenstein (with one win at the start),
and Toto Leonidas (with one win). Formidable
tournament and live-action pro Barry Greenstein
arrived as the chip leader. At the start,
players and chip counts were as follows:
THE
FINAL TABLE:
SEAT
1: Chris Ferguson Pacific Palisades, CA
16,000
SEAT 2: Sam Silverman Las Vegas, NV 39,500
SEAT 3: Paul Vinci Shell Beach, CA 54,000
SEAT 4: Paul Maxfield Stoke-on-Trent,
England 67,000
SEAT 5: Barry Greenstein RPV, CA 92,000
SEAT 6: Tim Martz Butte, MT 72,500
SEAT 7: Toto Leonidas Los Angeles, CA
45,000
SEAT 8: Eric “Blue” Blore North Hollywood,
CA 16,000
SEAT 9: Chris Lindenmayer Pickerington,
OH 35,500
Players
were eliminated in the following order:
9th
Place – Eric ‘Blue’ Bloore went
out first. The 36-year-old pro poker player
from Los Angeles plays mostly in middle-limit
games, although he has enjoyed some success
in online and live tournaments. Bloore
was formally the owner of a large stock
brokerage firm, which he sold before playing
poker full-time. Bloore collected $8,030
for 9th place.
8th Place –
Sean Silverman took a tough beat when
his set lost to Paul Vinci’s two-out ace,
which fell on the turn. The 25-year-old
former pre-med student now plays poker
for a living. Hew was making his best
showing at the WSOP in this event, but
went out as the 8th-place finisher. He
received $12,045.
7th
Place – This was Chris ‘Jesus’
Ferguson’s second final table appearance
so far this year. The five-time gold bracelet
winner was shooting for half-a-dozen,
but didn’t have enough chips to survive
a cold run of cards a few hours into the
finale. The 2000 world poker champion
added $16,065 to his lifetime earnings,
which now are close to $3 million.
6th
Place – This was the third lifetime
final table appearance for Englishman
Paul Maxfield. The winner of several majors
in Europe, including the French Poker
Open last year, went out in 6th place
in this event. His take amounted to $20,080.
5th
Place – Tim Martz gained some notoriety
on the previous day by knocking out bombastic
Phil Hellmuth, where he brutalized the
former world champion in four consecutive
hands, which effectively turned poker’s
Frankenstein into a basket case. It looked
like this might be Martz’s day, as he
had plenty of chips most of the way. But
Martz finally went out when his A-Q-J-10
was crushed by Toto Leonidas’ A-A-K-J.
Leonidas had a dominant hand which held
up, and Martz was out. Tim Martz manages
a poker room in Butte MT. Fifth place
paid $24,094.
4th
Place – Toto Leonidas was shooting
for his second gold bracelet, but came
up short. He lost a big hand to Barry
Greenstein when he missed a straight flush
draw. Then, he went out a short time later
as the 4th-place finisher. Philippine-born
Toto Leonidas, who now lives in Los Angeles,
was the 2003 U.S. poker champion. He finished
second in the Limit Hold’em event here
last week. Fourth-place paid $28,110.
3rd
Place – Chris Lindenmayer was the
next player to be eliminated. He took
an awful beat when he flopped a set of
queens, which ended up losing to Paul
Vinci’s higher full house. Vinci ended
up with kings-full versus Lindenmayer’s
queens-full. Lindenmayer, an X-ray technician
from Ohio, received $36,140 for 3rd place.
2nd
Place – When heads-up play began,
Paul Vinci enjoyed a slight chip lead
– 218,000 to 216,000. It took about an
hour for Greenstein to demonstrate the
depth of his skill and experience, which
would ultimately be the difference in
the heads-up match. There are occasions
when Greenstein mucked hands and saved
precious chips, which most certainly would
have been called (and lost) by other players.
Greenstein was determined never to give
his opponent an extra bet when he was
convinced he was to the wrong end of the
odds.
Greenstein
seized the chip lead and closed with a
victory on the final hand of the night
– A-K-10-5 versus Vinci’s Q-J-8-8. Greenstein
flopped top two pair, which essentially
left Vinci drawing to an eight. It didn’t
come. Vinci was second, and Greenstein
was the champion.
Paul
Vinci, a 42-year-old restaurateur from
Burbank, CA was the runner up. He has
finished high in the money and has made
it to several final tables at major poker
tournaments played in the Los Angeles
area. This was his best WSOP finish ever.
Second place paid $70,680.
1st
Place – Barry Greenstein is best
known as poker’s “Robin Hood.’ He donates
all of his tournament profits (totaling
over $4 million over the past five years)
to various charities – mostly specializing
in helping young people. He has given
money to charities that support school
programs. He has donated to social service
centers that assist the victims of domestic
violence. However, his preferred charity
is ‘Children Incorporated’ – a non-profit
group that seeks to assist youth living
in poverty, many of them in Central and
South America.
Greenstein
believes that by setting an example, others
will follow his lead and donate their
time and money to various causes which
make the world a better place. Aside from
his philanthropy, Greenstein personifies
the true meaning of character and compassion
– as illustrated by his dedication of
victory to Charlie Tuttle. How many other
poker players would use their fleeting
moment of glory on the grandest of poker
stages, not to bask in the spotlight but
to redirect that fame and glory towards
a stranger? Not many.
Society
defines success in peculiar ways. In this
age of explicit materialism and celebrity
worship, achievement is all too often
associated with money and status. Barry
Greenstein has different standards. Success
is not calculated by what is acquired,
but by what is bestowed. When the cards
have been dealt and mucked, when the decks
have been shuffled and re-shuffled countless
times, when the chips have been cashed
out, when the tournament fortunes have
long ago been spent and vanished, we shall
all be defined by what kind of people
we were and what we left behind. Barry
Greenstein continues to epitomize the
kind of man we all should aspire to become
and be, but to which we shall all inevitably
fall short.
Official Report
by Nolan Dalla – World Series of
Poker Media Director
World
Series of Poker Circuit Director of Operations
– Ken Lambert
World Series of Poker Tournament Director
– John Grooms
Rio Poker Room Manager – Michael
Matts
Rio Poker Tournament Director – Robert
Daily
|
