“It was the easiest field I’ve ever seen in my life. I feel like everyone in the tournament was on Adderall while I was on Xanax.”
It seems Jeff Shulman is never short or something to say.
For poker journalists, the presence of the CardPlayer editor on the final table is a refreshing change from the now standard ‘never cashed before but running like god’ November niner.
In fact, the former real estate investor gave the media an early treat by telling Wicked Chops Poker that if he were to win the Main Event, he would throw his bracelet in the bin!
He has since retracted those comments, but in their place made some damning remarks about the state of the World Series in a revealing article published in his own magazine:
“It used to be run by people who loved and really cared about poker, and had the players in mind, first and foremost. That mission’s been derailed by a few executives who now head the Series”, he said.
“This year, the WSOP locked out players who flew in from around the world to play in the main event, charged nearly $3 million in entry fees for the main event alone, continued to create an uneven playing field by giving special treatment to some, and, in general, display bad attitudes and make inaccurate decisions.”
But these aren’t the ramblings of a mis-treated no-body – behind Phil Ivey, Shulman was easily the most well-known player at the 2009 ME final table.
His father is bracelet winner Barry Shulman and Jeff himself has racked up over $2.5million in live tournament winnings, including a deep run in the first Main Event he ever played back in 2000. Aged 25, he made the final table only to be knocked out in a huge pot against eventual winner Chris Ferguson to bust in 7th place for $146,000.
TV audiences may also recognise him from his appearance on Poker Superstars III, aired in 2006, when he made it to the Elite Eight phase. Check out a clip from the show below, with a bio of Shulman at the beginning:
Jeff will resume 4th in chips at the final table and given his experience in the game he will be a very real danger to the chip leaders. Given his tendency to produce some golden comments, I’m sure the watching media will be hoping that he goes deep as well.
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