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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, July 5, 2009

Poker: Hear ye! Hellmuth enters WSOP dressed as Caesar


By OSKAR GARCIA
Associated Press Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Professional player Phil Hellmuth walks into a throng of fans at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on the third start day of the World Series of Poker.

LAURA RAUCH | Associated Press

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DAY 3

DAY: 3 (Officially known as Day 1C).

BIG NEWS: Flanked by dozens of women, heralded by trumpeters and mobbed by his fans, Phil Hellmuth channeled Julius Caesar as he entered the World Series of Poker main event.

The no-limit Texas Hold 'em champion who won the main event 20 years ago slowly made his way to his table on Sunday nearly two hours after play began.

Hellmuth told The Associated Press as he waited to make his entrance that he felt more powerful dressed as Caesar.

He greeted his table mates while television cameras rolled, then changed into more normal attire as the tournament broke after its first level.

Nearly 1,700 players entered the tournament on Sunday, and officials expected a sellout of about 2,600 players on Monday, the last day the tournament will accept entries.

STUD OF THE DAY: Kent Senter, a 56-year-old disabled hardware store worker from Pittsburgh, whose wife Patty convinced online poker site PokerStars to buy him into the main event. Doctors have said Senter has between six months and two years to live after he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma three months ago. Myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells.

Patty Senter said her husband has wanted to do three things: drive an Indy car, be an astronaut and play in the main event.

Kent Senter said he wants to cash in the main event to help pay his medical bills.

"He's determined to hang in there and do what he's got to do," Patty Senter said.

BUSTED OUT: Four-time gold bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu; poker professional Evelyn Ng; David "Chino" Rheem, who won $1.77 million for placing seventh at last year's main event.

UP NEXT: Another field of players heads to Las Vegas to begin main event play in the third of four starting days on Sunday.

POKER TALK: Tanking, into the tank: When a player takes some time to decide whether or not to call, raise or fold. Daniel Negreanu went into the tank on Sunday as he mulled whether to call an all-in bet from Hyunjin Lee on a board with two tens and a seven. Negreanu finally called, and found his pocket pair of threes bested by Lee's queens. Negreanu was eliminated.

HE SAID WHAT?: "When you dress as Caesar you actually feel more powerful. Kiss my ring!" — Phil Hellmuth to The Associated Press just before he entered the main event dressed as Julius Caesar.

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LAS VEGAS — Flanked by dozens of women, heralded by trumpeters and mobbed by his fans, Phil Hellmuth channeled Julius Caesar as he arrived at the World Series of Poker today.

The no-limit Texas Hold 'em champion who won the main event 20 years ago slowly made his way to his table nearly two hours after play began, joined by body-painted female gladiators and muses carrying rose petals in tote bags.

"When you dress as Caesar you actually feel more powerful," Hellmuth told The Associated Press as he waited in a car outside the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, before his stunt.

"Kiss my ring!" the 11-time gold bracelet winner said. "Hail Caesar!"

He greeted World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and his table mates while television cameras rolled, then changed into more normal attire as the tournament broke after its first level.

Hellmuth, who last year entered the series dressed as Gen. George S. Patton, said his entrances have become a personal tradition at the series that he has looked to top each year.

"It's kind of a fun spectacle," Hellmuth said. "I think it's great for poker."

Nearly 1,700 players entered the tournament on Sunday, and officials expected a sellout of about 2,600 players on Monday, the last day the tournament will accept entries. The series was on pace to undershoot last year's total entries by about 800 players if Monday sells out.

Peter Eastgate won $9.15 million last year after emerging from a field of 6,844 players in the $10,000 buy-in tournament.

While nobody tried to top Phil Hellmuth's arrival at the series, other players routinely use gimmicks in the tournament to try to draw attention to themselves and sometimes distract other players.

Dennis Phillips, a trucking account manager who placed third last year and won $4.5 million at the series' final table in November, had a few dozen supporters dressed like him in a white collared shirt and a St. Louis Cardinals hat as he began the tournament.