In the 1992 comedy classic, Honeymoon in Vegas, Nicolas Cage’s character loses his fiancée, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, in a poker game in a penthouse suite atop what’s now the Horseshoe Las Vegas Casino.
It’s one of the more ridiculous poker scenes you’ll ever see in a movie, full of ‘seeing’ bets and raises from off the table. But hey, it was 1992, and the movie is a guilty pleasure, and a lot more fun than Cage’s other notable Vegas movie, Leaving Las Vegas.
Why the lesson in Vegas movie history? Because at this year’s World Series of Poker, we had a real-life Honeymoon in Vegas, in the Main Event.
James Robinson and his new bride, Hannah Tildesley, got married in a small civil ceremony in May in their home country of Bermuda. The couple is planning a proper, large ceremony next April 18 on the 20th anniversary of their first date.
But they are now married after a 15-year engagement, so that means a honeymoon… in Vegas!
They celebrated their nuptials in the WSOP Main Event, playing it together for the first time – and both ended up in the money.
Hannah was eliminated early on Day 4, cashing for $15,000, and we caught up with James later that day to find out more.
“It’s our first holiday since we got married, which was on May 8," he told us. "So, while justifying it as the honeymoon, this is our third year at the WSOP.
"My wife had been keen to play the Main Event for the past two years but couldn't quite bring herself to do it. So, I played a bunch of satellites, hoping to win her a ticket.
"I won one, then discovered that I couldn't transfer it. She's the better poker player by far out of the two of us, so it didn't make sense for me to play without her playing as well. Luckily, one of my clients offered to stake her 25% before we came out – so that's how we both ended up playing.”
An uninvited guest
It was the perfect honeymoon.
Longtime sweethearts, finally wed and enjoying themselves in the entertainment capital of the world, making a run together in the biggest poker tournament in the world.
But while there’s always that one guest at the reception who loses control and makes a spectacle of themselves, this one crashed the honeymoon – Martin Kabrhel.
James tangled with the polarizing figure on Day 1D of the tournament – and he didn't enjoy the experience. He did take pride in lasting longer than Kabrhel.
“The main thing I'm happy with is that I've lasted longer than Mr. Kabrhel," James told us. "Having spent nine-and-a-half hours sat next to him on Monday, I got very irritated.
"I had to fold a hand and call the floor because he started a slow hand clap on the rail. I ended up making a complaint to the tournament director. He didn't like that, so he came over to take a photograph of me, which I interpreted as an attempt at intimidation.
"I ended up writing a handwritten letter to the tournament director complaining about that. I don't like his speech play – I think it's obnoxious and totally inappropriate, but I can see why it's considered witty banter. But a slow-hand-clapping intimidation has no place in a game like poker.”
Honeymoon dream comes to an end
James continued his deep run into the final thousand players. Unfortunately, he was eliminated in 595th place for $30,000 and he was kind enough to write us a letter to close the story off.
"I thought you might appreciate a note about how our honeymoon fairytale came to an end.
"With about 45 minutes left in Day 4, I'd built my stack to around 805,000 chips and was sitting comfortably around average. A Day 5 bag looked well within reach.
"Then my final hand happened.
"I looked down at 
in the big blind. Soheb Porbandarwala opened from early position, and Abdul Samad called. With around 100,000 in the pot, it was only costing me 15K. With my stack, it was an easy decision to try and flop a set.
The flop came 
, which was about as good as I could have hoped for.
I checked, expecting Soheb to continue, and he duly bet. Abdul called, and I raised to 135,000.
Soheb immediately moved all in for more than a million chips, comfortably covering me. Then Abdul called as well, adding another half a million to the pot before the action came back to me.
At this point, there was really no decision. If one of them had somehow flopped a bigger set, I still had Abdul comfortably covered and would survive. Far more likely was that I was ahead, but vulnerable to a flush draw. With more than two million chips in the middle and the chance to finish the night among the chip leaders, I called.
- Me:
- Soheb:
- Abdul:
It was exactly what I’d expected.
The turn brought the 
.
Abdul was now drawing dead, and my equity had improved to 83%. One card separated me from a stack that would almost certainly have put me in the top 25 overnight.
Then came the 
river.
The flush got there, and with it ended four unforgettable days in the Main Event.
Sometimes fairytales do have happy endings. Sometimes they end with the ace of spades.
Kind regards, James Robinson"
Happy wife, happy life
With his Main Event run over, James told us that so long as he went out in a manner that he and Hannah could be proud of, he’d accomplished his goal for the tournament.
“The goal when I'm playing poker is always to make sure that the story of how I went out doesn't lead to my wife thinking I'm an idiot," James told us.
Getting it in with a set against two flush draws for a shot near the top of the Main Event leaderboard certainly fits the bill.
Congratulations to James and Hannah on their Main Event runs and their life together.
Additional photos courtesy of WSOP
