Tournament Details

In this second installment of WPT’s unique Hollywood Home Game series, celebrities Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba), Norm Macdonald (SNL), Lolita Davidovich (Blaze), Richard Karn (Home Improvement), Fred Willard (Waiting for Guffman), and Camryn Manheim (The Practice) converged on the green felt in a Hollywood sound stage to see who will be the sole survivor in a fast-action game of No Limit Texas Hold‘Em. And although they were all playing for charity, each was hungry to earn the coveted top place $25,000 seat at the WPT World Championship.

Play went for quite awhile before any serious damage was done. Lou Diamond Phillips, a familiar face to regular WPT viewers, had some bad luck at the start of play, getting outdrawn with good cards. Camryn’s stack was crippled early on when she called Fred’s all-in semi-bluff at the turn, then watched as he got 6’s on the river. Lolita Davidovich, looking every bit the greenhorn at the start of play, improved steadily, finding herself in top chip position fairly early on.

In the first final-altering hand, Norm limped in for 16,000 with Js-9h. Lolita, with Jh-6h, came in right after him, as did Fred with Q-7, and Camryn, who called in the big blind with nothing. The flop came 6-4-3, all spades, bringing check-check from Fred and Camryn. Norm, on the J high flush draw, raised 20,000. Lolita, with top pair, quickly called. Camryn was practically forced all-in for her final 6,000. When Jc came on the turn, Norm felt confident with his top pair and flush draw, and pushed all-in. Lolita now faced a tough call. She went to her Hollywood Home Game "red card" which provided advice from WPT pro consultants Daniel Negreanu and Jennifer Harman. Daniel urged her to go ahead and call if she thought it was the best hand, but that it would be very close. The congenial redhead called, and when the river came 8c, she had knocked out two players in one hand! Camryn, due to her short stack, went out 6th, earning $1,500 for her charity, the civil rights watchdog organization, the ACLU, and Norm went out 5th, his share of $2,000 going to The Hole in the Wall Gang, Paul Newman’s charity for sick children.

Fred Willard, clearly the rookie at the final table, had looked destined for the rail early, but had a little help from his wife, Mary, a home-game host for decades. It paid off, as Fred - with good coaching - managed to outlast Camryn and Norm. Next, Lou Diamond Phillips, having just gone down to the Willards the hand before, was desperately clinging to 25,000 in chips, when the blinds went up to 12,000 and 24,000. Practically forced all-in, Lou had to dance with a lousy partner – 6h-4s. Richard set Lou in for his last thousand, raising 24,000 with Kh-8s. When the flop came 8-6-5, all diamonds, Lou was on life-support. Ad on the turn briefly flashed the possibility of a split pot, if the board flushed all diamonds, but 2h floated up, and Lou went out in 4th place. He took $2,500 to his charities, where his twin girls attend school - Sierra Canyon High School and Santa Suzanna Montessori School.

Now it was down to three and things were getting serious. Fred’s confidence was buoyed when he quickly took down a big pot with 6’s up. But immediately after that, with bottom pair and 4 overcards on the board, he found himself against Richard, who turned up trip K’s to cripple him. Fred’s stack had seriously dwindled when he got a strong Ad-Jd. Richard had led out 40,000 with Jc-7c, and Fred pushed all-in. When the board went Kc-5s-3h-6s, it looked like Fred would last another hand, but a 7 on the river paired Richard, and Fred was bounced out in 3rd place, carrying $4,000 to his charity, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Now down to heads up, Richard started to show his stuff. In a critical hand, he sniffed out a trap and made a great laydown with two pair when Lolita was trying to milk pocket aces. With blinds up to 50,000 and 100,000, Lolita took a chance with A-5, going all-in – but Richard had A-Q. When the board went Q-T-5-K-7, Richard Karn was the winner, taking a nice $10,000 to his charity, the Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, Washington, as well as a $25,000 seat at the WPT Championship. Lolita took down $5,000 for her 2nd place showing, split between her charities - Heifer International, which provides livestock for needy villages world-wide, and The Motion Picture and Television Fund, which helps aging film industry professionals. Be sure to tune in next time, for the third of eight WPT Hollywood Home Game specials!