The November Nine: Jeff Shulman
By Loki Luchs of Predictem.com
As I’ve said before, this year’s final table for the World Series of Poker Main Event has a touch of everything; the amateur with a dream in Darvin Moon, the chosen one with Phil Ivey, and the Bad Boy with Jeff Schulman. Shulman, who is best known as the Editor of Card Player Magazine and President of Cardplayer Media, is considered to be the dark horse due to his highly controversial view of the WSOP over the last few years.
He has been quoted to say that if he were to win the Main Event, which is the single most prestigious tournament in poker, he would throw the bracelet in the trash. Granted, he later took back this statement, he has declared that he’s going to do one of the following:
1. Sell it at auction and then donate the money to charity.
2) Hold a tournament for the players shut out of the 2009 WSOP Main Event and let that player claim it.
3) Give it away as a part of a promotion on SpadeClub.com (which is an online poker site sponsored by Card Player Magazine).
4) Give the bracelet to Stephen Colbert.
As I’m sure most of you are, I’m hoping he opts for a worthy charity or Steven Colbert. Either way, you have to give a modicum of respect to a man that is willing to toss away the most coveted item in the game.
Still, many players feel that if he wins, it will demean the outcome of the game. If he disapproves so much, should he have played the tournament in the first place? I bring up these points, because it will actually affect how the odds on Shulman change in the coming weeks. Many gamblers find his attitude endearing now, but as the final table grows closer, I feel that there’s going to be line action against Shulman. This is important because he is one of the favorites to take down the tournament from both his personal skill and the size of his chip stack.
Talent wise, Shulman is the most accomplished player at the table other than Phil Ivey. He has 15 cashes in the WSOP worth almost $300,000. He also made the Main Event final table in 2000, going out in seventh place against Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. He also has 10 cashes in the World Poker Tour.
At only 34 years of age, he’s physically capable of putting in the long hours at a grueling final table and he certainly has the experience of doing so.
Shulman currently sits in fourth place with almost twenty-million in chips. This would only be an average stack, but the top three players hold almost two-thirds of the total chips in play. Still, this is more than enough for an experienced player like Shulman to begin making moves on weaker stacks and inferior players.
Unless he makes a critical mistake early, it’s hard not to see him work his way up to the top five and beyond. I think he has almost a 1:3 chance of taking the bracelet down. I believe we’ll see his odds take a nice turn somewhere in mid-late October when betters no longer find his anger endearing. I’m waiting to see his odds hit 5:1 before I take the bet.
If you would like to place a bet on which player will win, you can do so
using your visa card at Bovada
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