Paul Phillips antics on WPT - Legends of Poker

[FrankieFish]

You guys take things too seriously.

[Kyle Stark]

At first I hated him, just seemed like a guy that you would love to hate. But man, the guy is funny. Just go through his posts here, he'll grow on you. And the Phil Hellmuth jersey pic was just fantastic. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[cwsiggy]

I thought it was funny. Better than listening to VVP.

[willie]

it was kind of funny

i'm sure that if i was lee i wouldn't be appreciating it after doubling doyle up and having to deal with a super aggressive legend with an equal amount of chips.

[TStoneMBD]

i found it childishly funny. at the time of watching it i thought that it was slightly in bad taste by PP, as it was a terrible hand for lee and he might have been morning over his decisions, only to be the butt of someone's joke. lee obviously didn't have a problem with it though so it was all in good taste. paul could have chosen a better time for it though, in a smaller pot. either way, it was good tv.

[TransientR]

No big deal at all, IMO.

What annoyed me is the overuse of flashing lights, scrolling web links, and graphics, that while fancier, are now harder than ever to see.

Frank

[That guy]

I voted for harmless...

when I first watched WPT, I really disliked Paul because he seemed such the intellectual-cocky-got-lucky-but-very-smart-and-knows-it guy. I have to say I root for him now...

kind of same thing with Mark Cuban... a decent guy who is living a sweet life...

[wray]

[ QUOTE ]
Funny you should say this.

From Paul Phillips blog site;
"I see that next wednesday they're running the season three bike episode. So let's get this out of the way: I fear the announcers (mike sexton in particular) are going to be very unkind to me. Here is what happened:

I was busted by doyle brunson and took 7th in the event, aka "the TV bubble." I came to watch the final table (which is hard to do when you've come that close and missed) and on the way in I was inspired to buy one of doyle's books and study it while in the audience. They filmed me doing this and I'm fairly sure they'll use that footage.

By the time it got to be heads-up between lee watkinson and doyle, I had had a couple drinks and I'm sure that impaired my judgment a little beyond the usual impairment. When doyle doubled through lee to even the chip count, I jokingly offered the book to linda johnson to give to lee. She declined but one of the WPT guys also standing there encouraged me to go up to the stage and do it myself. So, as usual not thinking enough about the cameras, I impulsively did as he suggested. I tapped lee on the shoulder and pretended to show him a passage, then went back to my seat.

When I got back a chorus of angry and unhappy words were pouring out from lee's supporters, who were sitting right behind me, and it was right about then that I realized that I shouldn't have done it and especially shouldn't have done it at that moment. I was sure lee could handle it no problem but I didn't think about how it'd be perceived by others. This is the downside of "dancing like nobody's watching", that sometimes people ARE watching and they may not see things the way you intended them.

Lee being the ridiculously nice guy that he is actually sought ME out the next day via email to apologize for not being quick enough on the uptake to really go along with the joke. That made me feel somewhat better inasmuch as it confirmed my belief that lee would have no problem with it; unfortunately that's not going to help with anyone else. If it doesn't bother lee I can't see why anyone else would need to take exception to it... but I'm sure they will anyway.

If they want to brutalize me it'll be very, very easy. The guy who took 7th and just missed making the TV table goes out on stage at the most inappropriate possible moment. What an attention whore! In reality it only happened because I WASN'T thinking about the cameras, not because I was. But as with all things television, I'm at the mercy of if and how the producers choose to use the footage, and what they choose to say.

When I was at the commerce for the WPT event, josh ariah and I played a marathon 24-hour chinese poker session. I told him he could relax, soon I'll be the guy everyone hates. Obviously I can't really pass poor josh on that stage with this one incident, but maybe if I keep trying...

I always have a good time playing poker with josh. I hope he can shake off the crap he's been carrying since the WSOP, because there are so many players who deserve the negativity more richly than he does. Not that I'm volunteering myself."

[/ QUOTE ]

If it didn't bother Lee then it shouldn't bother the rest. It's obvious Paul has learned his lesson and I hope everyone forgets about it. I found it a bit odd but when they said that they were friends I assumed Paul knew Lee would take it like a champ.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
If it didn't bother Lee then it shouldn't bother the rest. It's obvious Paul has learned his lesson and I hope everyone forgets about it. I found it a bit odd but when they said that they were friends I assumed Paul knew Lee would take it like a champ.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep.

I mean, watching on television, we can't feel the energy in the room. Seems there was some decent, upbeat energy, and Paul had had a few drinks...whatever.

I think the "poker wave" was a much more egregious transgression, and nobody's excoriating Esfandiari. I also think the Poker Fratboy routine from the crowd (which included Negreanu) at the first Ladies' Night was also much more unseemly.

Phillips also seems to really regret it, having had a chance to install a little context into the memory.

I say give him a pass.

[jah0550]

His antics were completely bush. If you had a huge chip lead on a player like Doyle Brunson, how would you feel about doubling him up? I'm guessing you'd be a little upset. Then, some jerk comes out of the audience with a "How to" poker book and brings it up to you. If I were Lee, I'd have punched PP right in the face. COMLETELY BUSH PAUL!