In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a number of pro poker players turned up at the Bali Hai Golf course for a game of high stakes Golf. A few famous names included Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu, along with a handful of other well-known poker players. The players were separated into 3 teams of 3, as they battled it out on the course for $1,000,000 for each hole.
There was also a unique set of rules that accompanied the game to help make things a little more interesting:
- The furthest ball from the hole must be putted;
- All foreign substances such as grease and Vaseline may be used on the clubface;No handicaps will be used.
- Players will be assigned tee boxes based on ability and to make all players equal;
- Any putting style may be used by the player, except for the stroke used in billiards.
- All putts must be holed; there will be no gimmies;
There was a lot of action during the high stakes game, both on and off the course. Despite there being such a large amount of money at stake, there was still room for a little messing about between the three opposing teams. Doyle Brunson was caught sticking ‘Doyles Room’ ads over Negreanu’s golf bag, and Russ Hamilton’s mobile phone went off as big DN was taking practice swings at the 7th tee. However, the pros managed to keep their cool, and there was a fair amount of good golfing to be seen throughout the day.
Dewey Tomko opened up the play on the first hole, and managed to make a very clean drive down the fairway to start things off. Josh Arieh made the most impressive start of the day, firing a great shot down the fairway to stand him in good stead for the rest of the hole. His teammates were delighted with his efforts, as the opposition became a little more concerned about the safety of their money.
There were other instances of entertainment, as Phil Hellmuth picked up and award for having the shortest shorts in the tournament, which should make the show well worth watching for when it airs on October the 21st on ESPN. In the meanwhile however, you can find more information at highstakesgames.com
