Rolled Up Deuces

2008-07-13T05:58:00.000-07:00

Taken from PokerNews.com

Official Day 6 Seat Assignments
Official seat assignments have now been released for Day 6 of the 2008 WSOP Main Event, with 79 players returning to action for the noon start. Mark Ketteringham will begin the day as the chip leader, stacked at 5,800,000 overnight. The players will be seated at nine tables in the Amazon “Green” section, surrounding and including the ESPN feature area.

The chip leader at each table is denoted by boldface text. The table and seat assignments are as follows:

(Table 1)
Seat 1: Bob Whalen – 1,382,000
Seat 2: Paul Snead – 1,572,000
Seat 3: Christopher Zapf – 297,000
Seat 4: Brian Tatum – 780,000
Seat 5: Aaron Gordon – 3,369,000
Seat 6: Jason Glass – 629,000
Seat 7: David Rheem – 2,586,000
Seat 8: Thomas Keller – 245,000
Seat 9: Garrett Beckman – 1,860,000

(Table 2)
Seat 1: Chris Klodnicki – 2,496,000
Seat 2: Kido Pham – 1,600,000
Seat 3: Aaron Keay – 990,000
Seat 4: Anthony Scherer – 2,245,000
Seat 5: Alfredo Fernandez – 3,053,000
Seat 6: Peter Eastgate – 2,629,000
Seat 7: Judet Christian – 3,031,000
Seat 8: Scott Montgomery – 1,669,000
Seat 9: Mauro Lupo – 2,261,000

(Table 3)
Seat 1: Greg Byard – 1,189,000
Seat 2: Jonathan Plens – 1,870,000
Seat 3: Nhan Le – 2,190,000
Seat 4: Justin Sadauskas – 2,000,000
Seat 5: Keith Hawkins – 636,000
Seat 6: Eric Bamer – 479,000
Seat 7: Cristian Dragomir – 2,372,000
Seat 8: Dean Hamrick – 1,905,000
Seat 9: Joe Bishop – 1,570,000

(Table 4)
Seat 1: Geert Jans – 1,633,000
Seat 2: Justin Scott – 1,971,000
Seat 3: Alan Gould – 1,838,000
Seat 4: Daniel Buzgon – 876,000
Seat 5: Alex Outhred – 699,000
Seat 6: Albert Kim – 3,734,000
Seat 7: David Saab – 1,705,000
Seat 8: Nikolay Losev – 4,058,000
Seat 9: Matt Matros – 766,000

(Table 5)
Seat 1: Jeremy Joseph – 3,100,000
Seat 2: Mark Ketteringham – 5,800,000
Seat 3: Gert Andersen – 1,447,000
Seat 4: Brandon Cantu – 2,288,000
Seat 5: David Benefield – 2,490,000
Seat 6: Dennis Phillips – 3,436,000
Seat 7: Sean Davis – 861,000
Seat 8: Michael Carroll – 957,000
Seat 9: Mark Owens – 595,000

(Table 6)
Seat 1: Rafael Caiaffa – 1,338,000
Seat 2: Steve Lade – 3,225,000
Seat 3: Ivan Demidov – 2,185,000
Seat 4: Phi Nguyen – 1,540,000
Seat 5: Adam Levy – 767,000
Seat 6: Nicholas Sliwinski – 2,236,000
Seat 7: Suresh Prabhu – 1,175,000
Seat 8: Ylon Schwartz – 816,000
Seat 9: Victor Ramdin – 795,000

(Table 7)
Seat 1: James McManus – 2,434,000
Seat 2: Tim Loecke – 996,000
Seat 3: Phil Hellmuth – 721,000
Seat 4: Allen Kennedy – 1,153,000
Seat 5: Kelly Kim – 2,425,000
Seat 6: Larry Wright – 1,502,000
Seat 7: Jason Riesenberg – 2,217,000
Seat 8: Andrew Rosskamm – 1,593,000
Seat 9: Clint Schafer – 1,123,000

(Table 8)
Seat 1: Chris Crilly – 1,183,000
Seat 2: Craig Marquis – 1,748,000
Seat 3: Felix Osterland – 786,000
Seat 4: Jamal Sawaqdeh – 888,000
Seat 5: Jamal Kunbuz – 3,327,000
Seat 7: Mike Matusow – 1,169,000
Seat 8: Tiffany Michelle – 3,438,000
Seat 9: Jeremy Gaubert – 578,000

(Table 9)
Seat 1: Craig Stein – 440,000
Seat 2: Niklas Flisberg – 1,264,000
Seat 3: Mark Wilds – 485,000
Seat 4: Andrew Brokos – Did Not Report (approx. 4,080,000)
Seat 6: Lisa Parsons – 581,000
Seat 7: Peter Neff – 1,275,000
Seat 8: Darus Suharto – 1,057,000
Seat 9: Owen Crowe – 1,050,000

Interesting Points:
*Hellmuth still very mch in the race for a 12th bracelet.
*Tiffany Michelle (does PokerNews interviews), is among the chipleaders.
Other big names include; Mike Matusow, Kido Pham, Victor Ramdin.

I would have to say that this WSOP IS the year of the pro. With so many top pro's winning bracelets, and now some very big names of the poker world very deep in the main event.

It will be very interesting if names such as Hellmuth and Matusow make the delayed final table, which they were against. I assume the publicity they will receive if they make the final table will be positive for there careers and wallets.

More news to come from day 6.

Oh, and Hellmuth will miss the first round of play tomorrow for a penalty he received at the end of the day. He continuously berated a player for calling his big re-raise with 10 4 and hitting a 10, and making Hellmuth fold. He then showed, and Hellmuth let loose.

I'm Back: WSOP 2008 Main Event - 6844 Entrants

2008-07-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, well since last years main event. I'm back though, and will be bringing you updates through the main event and the very delayed, final table.

We are on to day 3 now, and could be reaching the money late during today's play. This is the first time that all of the remaining entrants will be playing together on one day.

Some mentionable news so far:
* $9.1 Million for first place, with 666 (oooooh) paid.
* The chip leader from day 2a has almost double the chips of the chip leader of day 2b.
* 11 time braclet winner Phil Hellmuth is still in with a decent stack.
* Ray Romano will play day 3.
* Negreanu was busted on day 1 with set over set.
* Gus and Matusow are two noted pros still in.

On a side note:

If Phil Gordon makes the final table i will never play poker again.

More updates to come.

Poll

2007-07-30T06:01:00.000-07:00

I've made a new poll which can be seen to the right of the page. If you do vote in it please leave a comment in this post about your reasons.

I'll start it off:

I voted for Joe Hachem, not just because he is an Aussie, but mainly because he has extensively proven that he deserved his title. Winning the WPT at the Bellagio late last year sealed the deal for me.

Jerry Yang, Right After his Win

2007-07-30T00:13:00.001-07:00

More Info on Jerry Yang's Win

2007-07-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

Taken from Full Tilt Poker's Website (http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/jerry-yang-wsop-2007)

Jerry Yang - 2007 World Series of Poker Champion

Jerry Yang at the WSOP
2007 WSOP Main Event Champion
Turned $225 into more than $8.2 Million
Pledged 10% of his winnings to various charities

Jerry Yang burst onto the poker scene in 2007, making one of the most remarkable entrances the poker world has ever seen. Starting as a short-stack at the final table, Jerry emerged nearly 16 hours later with the coveted gold bracelet and the game’s most prestigious title - World Series of Poker Main Event Champion.

Grabbing The Lead

Jerry Yang’s amazing run during the Main Event included eliminating seven of his eight opponents at the final table. Jerry was the wild card when play began, but quickly took control. Displaying nerves of steel, he built up a huge chip stack and proceeded to dominate the action.

Heads-Up Play

When it came down to heads-up play, Yang called his opponent’s all-in bet with pocket eights. His opponent turned over A-Q off-suit, and the race was on. The flop brought a Queen and Jerry fell behind, but the turn gave him some outs as he’d developed a gut-shot straight draw. The miraculous river card – a 6 - completed his straight, and Jerry let out an ecstatic scream as he was crowned champion of the Main Event. After making a victory lap around the table and celebrating with his friends and family, Jerry made sure the dealer didn’t get left out, giving her a giant hug as well.

About Jerry Yang

Born in Laos, Jerry now lives in Temecula, California. When he’s not playing poker, Jerry is a psychologist and social worker with a Masters Degree in health psychology. He is married with six children, and always makes sure to kiss a picture of his kids before he goes all-in.

Socially conscious, Jerry Yang is determined to give something back to charity. He pledged 10% of his winnings to three different charities − the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Feed the Children, and the Ronald McDonald House.

WSOP Main Event Final Table Results

2007-07-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

1. Jerry Yang $8,250,000

2. Tuan Lam $4,840,981
3. Raymond Rahme $3,048,025
4. Alexander Kravchenko $1,852,721
5. Jon Kalmar $1,255,069
6. Hevad (RainKhan) Khan $956,243
7. Lee Childs $705,229
8. Lee Watkinson $585,699
9. Phillip Hilm $525,934

Congrats to Team PokerStars at the 2007 WSOP ME

2007-07-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

Tuan Lam, Raymond Rahme, and Hevad "Rain" Kahn all from PokerStars all made the final table.

I'm Back! And we have a new world champ!

2007-07-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

Well i'm now back from my holiday in Melbourne (great casino), i won a bit, but nothing like the new WSOP Main Event Champion, Jerry Jang.

I don't have much info on his win yet, but as soon as i get my research done, it will be up here.

The 2007 WSOP Main Event Final Table is Set!

2007-07-16T04:38:00.000-07:00

There is only one pro left, Lee Watkinson, while Scotty Nguyen was eliminated in 11th place. He had a "Matusow" type blow up, and he was clearly disappointed about it.

The final table will take place after a day of rest.

1. Philip Hilm $23,070,000

2. Tuan Lam $20,290,000

3. Jon Kalmar $20,220,000

4. Raymond Rahme $16,000,000

5. Lee Childs $13,320,000

6. Lee Watkinson $9,975,000

7. Hevad "Rain" Khan $9,205,000

8. Jerry Yang $8,500,000

9. Alex Kravchenko $6,570,000

WSOP Main Event: Day 4

2007-07-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

We are now down to just 112, and the top 10 chips counts are as follows:

1 Dag Mikkelsen
3,350,000

2
Richard Harris
2,700,000

3
Avi Cohen
2,450,000

4
Stefan Mattson
2,350,000

5
Josh Evans
2,300,000

5
Hevad Khan
2,300,000

5
Paul Spitzberg
2,300,000

8
Alexander Kravchenko
2,250,000

9
Jon Kalmar
2,170,000

10
Hoa Nguyen
2,150,000

Also, here are the chipcounts from the official WSOP page; if you can understand it though:

2 1 Charis Anastasiou 2,672,000 2 2 Avi Cohen 2,392,000 2 3 Richard Murnick 1,092,000 2 5 Jeff Tunkel 2,323,000 2 6 David Wells 684,000 2 7 John Spadavecchia 1,428,000 2 8 Markus Gonsalves 1,596,000 2 9 John Kalmer 1,536,000 3 1 Paul Spitzberg 1,963,000 3 2 Paulo Loureiro 1,761,000 3 3 Philip Hilm 1,183,000 3 4 Hyon Kim 768,000 3 5 William Spadea 827,000 3 6 Travis Belles 274,000 3 7 Josh Evans 1,792,000 3 8 Christian Togsverd 978,000 3 9 Thierry van den Berg 955,000 4 1 Joe Shield 586,000 4 2 Jeff Weiss 1,253,000 4 3 Bjorn-Erik Glenne 526,000 4 4 Julian Gardner 1,777,000 4 5 Jared Hamby 645,000 4 6 Peter Darvill 441,000 4 7 Lee Watkinson 1,860,000 4 8 Roy Winston 1,420,000 4 9 Billy Willis 816,000 5 1 Dag Martin Mikkelsen 3,740,000 5 2 Chris Lovelace 389,000 5 3 David Tran 1,187,000 5 4 Hevad Khan 2,200,000 5 5 Adam White 1,820,000 5 6 Leonard Pruzansky 304,000 5 7 Rep Porter 1,426,000 5 8 Michael Zinna 1,024,000 5 9 Humberto Brenes 1,140,000 6 1 Warren Karp 1,068,000 6 2 Steven Garfinkle 730,000 6 3 Jeff "Mr. Rain" Banghart 1,600,000 6 4 Mickey Seagle 242,000 6 5 Kevin Farry 1,800,000 6 6 Kelly Jo McGlothlin 871,000 6 7 Senovio Ramirez III 682,000 6 8 Cody Slaubaugh 1,139,000 6 9 Bob Slezak 889,000 7 1 Thomas Koo 362,000 7 2 John Armbrust 892,000 7 3 Gus Hansen 1,604,000 7 4 Jason Koshi 682,000 7 5 Tuan Lam 1,900,000 7 6 Francois Safieddine 882,000 7 7 Diego Cordovez 712,000 7 8 Brandon Adams 498,000 8 1 Philip Yeh 1,775,000 8 2 Tommy Le 850,000 8 3 Alex Kravchenko 2,274,000 8 4 Maria Ho 885,000 8 5 Zhuang Han 820,000 8 6 Alan Keating 396,000 8 7 Floyd Clark 1,146,000 8 8 Jerry Yang 1,150,000 8 9 Ryan Lawrence 1,046,000 9 1 Willie Tann 912,000 9 2 David Names 330,000 9 3 Reagan Silber 1,232,000 9 4 Paul Kershaw 654,000 9 5 Kevin Kim 1,000,000 9 6 Richard Harris 2,662,000 9 7 Sven Niklas Heinecker 1,908,000 9 8 Huck Seed 1,546,000 9 9 Dario Minieri 1,400,000 10 1 Kirk Morrison 1,393,000 10 2 Robin Bergren 725,000 10 3 Brian Tracy 399,000 10 4 Andreas Krause 95,000 10 5 Lee Childs 1,657,000 10 6 John Bird 1,018,000 10 7 Pete de Best 360,000 10 8 Ray Henson 1,111,000 11 1 Andrew Gunderson 326,000 11 2 Daniel Alaei 1,219,000 11 3 Jeff Bryan 1,152,000 11 4 Raymond Rahme 1,763,000 11 5 Kenny Tran 958,000 11 6 Tom Peterson 1,200,000 11 7 Nicolas Atlan 1,837,000 11 8 Alan Levin 377,000 12 1 Chad Brown 860,000 12 2 Francis Cagney 1,318,000 12 3 Richard Crowell 306,000 12 4 Matt Keikoan 1,556,000 12 5 Ayaz Mahmood 538,000 12 6 Hoa Nguyen 1,645,000 12 7 Kenneth Smith 437,000 12 8 Mikkel Madsen 933,000 13 1 Justin Sadauskas 1,115,000 13 2 Jason Welch 618,000 13 3 Isaac Haxton 804,000 13 4 Stig Top-Rasmussen 1,080,000 13 5 Mark Ellerbe 952,000 13 6 Stefan Mattsson 1,704,000 13 7 Naseem Salem 411,000 13 8 Dennis Perry 464,000 13 9 Ronald Kluber 1,559,000 14 1 Lamar Wilkinson 521,000 14 2 Cory Carroll 1,415,000 14 3 Ed de Haas 1,045,000 14 4 Jimmy Blevins 835,000 14 5 Allan King 1,000,000 14 6 Scott Freeman 1,793,000 14 7 Ryan Elson 2,137,000 14 8 Scotty Nguyen 1,175,000 14 9 Bill Edler 490,000

Or, you can just go here: http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/updates_pn.asp?tourneyID=3482&groupid=309

The Current Chip Leader

2007-07-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

He is famous for being very aggressive, and for being the first person to use his FPP on PokerStars to buy a Porsche!

WSOP Main Event: Day: 3

2007-07-13T04:47:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day that the entire remaining field played together. It was a very exciting day as the bubble burst, and all of the remaining players made the money. At the end of the day there were 337 players left.

End of day top chip counts as follows:

1. Dario Minieri $2,398,000
2. Jeff Weiss $1,533,000
3. Jon Kalmar $1,410,000
4. Hevad Khan $1,319,000
5. Kenny Tran $1,175,000
6. Steven Jacobs $1,127,000
7. Brock Parker $1,089,000
8. Robert Neitrayan $1,058,000
9. Nicolas Atlan $1,057,000
10. William Spadea $1,057,000
11. Gus Hansen $1,044,000
12. Phillip Liou $975,000
13. Rep Porter $974,000
14. Senovio Ramirez, III $947,000
15. Clint Schafer $940,000
16. Andrew Barnes $932,000
17. Jimmy Blevins $855,000
18. Jon Moonves $854,000
19. Jim Lucas $836,000

There weren't too many big named eliminations, but the biggest ones were Ted Forrest, Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, and Andy Philachack. Big named players to be eliminated inside the money included Robert Mizrachi, and Pamela Brunson (Doyle's Daughter).

Gus Hansen is also having a very good WSOP. He won the Aussie Millions earlies this year, and would love to finally add a WSOP bracelet to his name.

Pop!

2007-07-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

The bubble at the 2007 WSOP Main Event has burst. Just 621 players remaining. Details to follow.

Gavin concentrating as he made the money.

5 Former WSOP Champs Left

2007-07-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

Going into day 3 of the 2007 WSOP Main Event, there are only 5 former world champions left. They are Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, Carlos Mortensen, Robert Varkonyi, Huck Seed, and Berry Johnston.

This means that the current field has a bit less than 1% who are world champions. Statistically speaking, there is about 1 in 100 chance that we will have a previous champion win again. To win it again with a field this size will be a remarakable feat.

WSOP Main Event: Day: 2b

2007-07-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

Not as many big named eliminations today as there were yesterday, but still some of the huge names are out. Big eliminations include Daniel Negreanu; Prahlad Friedman; Michael Binger; Vinnie Vihn; Phil Gordon; Steve Dannenmann; John Phan; Allen Cunningham; 2003 champ Chris Moneymaker; and Mr Costanza himself, Jason Alexander.

A very good day for Gus Hansen who ended the day with 530,000 chips in 2nd place. Todays top chip counts are as follows:

1. Rain Khan $580,000
2. Gus Hansen $530,000
3. Brent Sheirbon $525,000
4. Robert Nehorayan $510,000
5. Bill Edler $510,000
6. Richard Weisman $510,000
7. Markus "Lurped" Gonsalves $500,000
8. Kevin Kim $470,000
9. Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi $410,000
10. Ryan Lawrence $400,000
11. Carl Olson $400,000
12. Travis Belles $380,000
13. Dario Minieri $370,000
14. Ayaz Mahmood $370,000
15. Patrick Hughes $370,000
16. Cyril Bensoussan $365,000
17. Tim Begley $365,000
18. Christian Toth $360,000
19. Kelly Jo McGlothlin $353,000

Seinfeld Star "Costanza" Still Shining

2007-07-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

From the WSOP Live Updates:

A player in middle position raises to 3,000, another player calls, and Jason Alexander calls from the button. The flop comes {Ks}{Jd}{8d}, it's checked to Alexander who bets 15,000, the original raiser moves all in, the third player folds, and Alexander calls all in for 39,100. His opponent shows {Jc}{Js} for a set of jacks, but Alexander shows {Kc}{Kd} for a higher set of kings. His opponent has just one out, but misses as the last two cards come {3h}{9c}. Jason Alexander wins the pot, doubling up to 99,400 in chips. This hand was brought to you free from bad Seinfeld-related jokes; consider it Alexander's free pass this early in the day. Stay tuned for George Costanza references throughout the rest of our coverage.

Other notables so far today are Gus Hansen and Ted Forrest who have $340,000 (8th) and $280,000 (17th) respectively.

Why Jeff Madsen was Wearing a Jester Suit.....

2007-07-11T06:11:00.000-07:00

Awesome Interview with Jason Alexander at this years WSOP

2007-07-11T06:08:00.000-07:00

Bellagio Cup III: Day 1a

2007-07-11T04:59:00.000-07:00

Big named chip counts:

Kevin Saul 262.075k
Koustautin Puchkov 180.5k
Ofer Stern 132.525k
Gino "RockFaith" Yonan 118.425k
Gioi Luong 91k
Eric Ramsower 81.250k
Mike Wattel 80.725k
Dewey Tomko 49.925k
Eric Weiner 46.375k
Victor Ramdin 40k
Joe Pelton 39.250k
Haralabos Voulgaris 33.7k
Brett Richey 32.575k
Curt Kohlberg 31.6k
Beth Shak 27.675k
Kristy Gazes 27.025k
Steve Dannenmann 26.3k
Barny Boatman 23.875k
Justin Bonomo 13.450k

WSOP Main Event: Day: 2a

2007-07-11T01:27:00.000-07:00

A very interesting day where many top pros were eliminated. The day ended with only 350 left in this group. This means that tomorrow (day 2b), players will play down to exactly the same time as the players did today. This is to ensure a fair go for all.

Today's big-named eliminations include; 2005 champ, Joe Hachem; "Miami" John Cernuto; Jeff Madsen; 1983 champ Tom McEvoy; 2007 WSOP Player of the Year, Tom Schneider; Evelyn Ng; Barry Greenstein; Farzad Bonyadi; Paul Wasicka; Tony G; "Action Dan" Harrington; Mark Seif; Patrik Antonius; Actor, Brad Garrett; Rhet Butler (5th in last years main event); Jane Gold (Jamie's Mum - haha at Jamie, beaten by his own mother); Capt. Tom Franklin; Hoyt Corkins; Joe Sebok.

End of day top chip counts:

1. Jon Moonves $570,000
2. Jeff "The Rain" Banghart $551,000
3. Tuan Lam $515,000
4. Kenny Tran $495,000
5. Daniel Elizondo $470,000
6. Atlan Nicolas $460,000
7. Avi Cohen $430,500
8. Mikkel Madsen $425,000
9. Ken Smith $420,000
10. Jeff Weiss $401,000
11. Tony Dunst $400,000
12. Jerry Yang $390,000
13. John Duthie $381,500
14. Amanda Baker $380,000
15. Tom Peterson $380,000
16. Cyrus Farzad $335,000
17. Ryan Elson $328,000
18. Stephen Jacobs $315,000
19. Ken Evanowski $315,000

A special mention to actor Tobey Maguire (Spiderman), who played extremely well, and will head into day 3 with a stong amount of chips.

WSOP Main Event: Day: 1d

2007-07-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

A day of big names, where two world champs were eliminated (Gold & Hellmuth), and others shined.

A shame though for Vinnie Vinh, who for the 3rd time at this years WSOP, has not arrived at his seat. In his two other disappearing acts he cashed, but this time, he is down to 3,300.

End of day top chip counts:

1. Josh Evans $240,000
2. Mickey "Mouse" Mills $180,000
3. Cindy Longoria $166,000
4. John "Kunkuwap" Tabatabai $161,500
5. Ben Lamb $160,000
6. Matt Keikoan $155,000
7. Dan Heimiller $153,000
8. Ted Forrest $150,000
9. Mike Laing $145,000
10. Anthony Reategui $140,000
11. Raymond Lau $140,000
12. Zak Alameddine $136,300
13. J.J Ware $135,000
14. Kyle Wilson $130,000
15. JT Fulton $125,000
16. Chip Jett $123,000
17. Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi $122,000
18. Goevry Gilles $120,000
19. Thor Hansen $114,000

A special mention for Ted Forrest, who managed to grind his way back from one of the short stacks, to be 8th at the end of the day.

Day 2a begins tomorrow with the survivors from day 1a and 1b.

Gold & Hellmuth OUT

2007-07-10T00:28:00.000-07:00

Two former world champs, Jamie Gold and Phil Hellmuth have both been eliminated on day 1d at the 2007 WSOP.

Phil Hellmuth, with only 400 chips left, moved all in with A Q. His opponent fittingly hit a runner, runner flush on the turn and river to knock out Hellmuth. As he left the room, the players and spectators clapped and cheered.

The details of Gold's elimination will be posted soon, but all in can say is YESSS!

The Official Entrants & Prize Pool are in!

2007-07-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

6,358 players put up 10k to enter.
The prize pool is a tad under $60 mil ($59,784,954).
621 people will make the money.
The winner will take home US$8.25 million.

For reference, last years number of entrants was 8,773, while in 2005 there were 7097.

WSOP Main Event: Day: 1c

2007-07-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

A day of big names.

Big eliminations; Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, T.J. Cloutier, Kenna James, Joe Cassidy, Phil Ivey (pictured), Tim Phan, Andy Bloch, Men Nguyen, Phil Laak, Clonie Gowen, Nick Schulman, Rafe Furst, Amir Vahedi, Shannon Shorr, David Sklansky, Chau Giang, Kristy Gazes, Ted Lawson, and Erik Cajelais.

Big survivors; Chad Brown, J.C. Tran, Warren Karp, Francois Safieddine, Hasan Habib, Rolf Slotboom, Lee Watkinson, Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby, Todd Brunson, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Robert Varkonyi, Chris Moneymaker, Bernard Lee, Brad Berman, Rene Angelil, Humberto Brenes, Matt “SamEnole” Smith, Michael DeMichelle, Phil Gordon, Amnon Filippi, Toto Leonidas, Mark Gregorich and Jon Friedberg.

End of day top chip stacks:

Tom Bernard - $220,000
Carl “Colson10” Olson - $205,000
Philip Hilm - $195,000
Daniel Alaei - $190,000
Chuck Kelly - $170,000
Frank Schram - $161,500
James Sigerson - $160,000
Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken - $150,000
Kit Manoel - $146,500
Rodney Knight - $146,000

WSOP Main Event: Day: 1b

2007-07-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

End of day top chip stacks:

Dag Mikkelsen: $253,000
Gene Strickland: $180,000
Sven Johnson: $176,000
Chris Viox: $163,000
Rep Porter: $150,000
Bob Poole: $148,000
Todd Phillips: $138,000
Scotty Nguyen: $135,000
John Duthie: $135,000

On a side note, 2005 champ, Joe Hachem survived with about 40k chips.

WSOP Main Event: Day: 1a

2007-07-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

The main event has started. Some interesting events and notes:

First player out was Matt Jansen, holding AA.
Jeff Madsen lost a bet where he had to wear a jester suit.
Doyle and Johnny Chan were both eliminated.
Ray Romano and Brad Garrett had a 2k bet on who will last longer. Garrett won, and will be donating the money to charity.

End of day top chip stacks:

Tinten Olivier: $270,500
John Dutchak: $209,600
Stephen Austin: $205,000
Michael Tureniec: $203,900
Aurelio Arcano: $166,000
Kitai Davidi: $164,700
Scott Yeates: $163,200
Dane Lomas: $161,800
Andrius Tapinas: $159,100
Alex Michaels: $155,500

Player of the Year & the $5k w/rebuys Lowball Event

2007-07-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

The WSOP player of the year came down to an exciting end during event 54 last week. The battle was between Tom Schneider, and Jeffery Lisandro. The situation was simple. For Lisandro to win, he needed to cash (top 7) with Schneider not to. It became very exciting once Schneider was eliminated. Lisandro was in the top 5 at that point, but was unable to hold onto his chips, and didn't cash.

This left the current POY standings as they were, and Tom Schneider was the victor.

WSOP POY standings as follows:

                                              Points     Prize Money

Tom Schneider                   255          $416,829
Jeffrey Lisandro                 225          $462,149
Robert Mizrachi                 210          $861,138
Scotty Nguyen                    180          $201,573
Phil Hellmuth                      170          $743,564
Scott Clements                    167          $327,904
Chris Bjorin                          165          $305,415
Rene Mouritsen                  160          $612,874
Alexander Kravchenko      155          $268,184
William Durkee                   155          $619,201

On another note, Erik Seidel won the event, his 8th WSOP Bracelet, and $538,835 in prize money. Well done!

Final results as follows:

1. Erik Seidel $538,835
2. Chad Brown $324,777
3. Shahram (Shawn) Sheikhan $206,676
4. Lamar Wilkinson $162,389
5. Andrew Black $118,101
6. Kassam (Freddy) Deeb $73,813
7. Todd Brunson $51,669

1,000,000 to 1: Can Jamie Gold win again?

2007-07-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

This year's WSOP will most likely be only the second main event where the number of entrants will be less that the previous year's. This provides a glimpse of hope for last year's main event winner, Jamie Gold.

Me amongst many others believe that Gold cannot win it again. Last year, Gold demonstrated a strategy which frustrated his opponents, by talking them into incorrect decisions. It was made much easier due to his massive chip advantage. This year however, everyone has seen his tactics. This was made evident on the recent episodes of Poker After Dark, where Gold was 'demolished' by past world champions. His loose style of play could get him a few lucky pots, but in the end, he will be outplayed and will not repeat last years feat.

I also think that the glory of last years triumph is getting to his head. Some of you may of heard of the incident which hapened between Gold and security at the WSOP. For those of you who haven't, Gold waited in a lengthy line only to reach the front and realise he had left his I.D. card back in his hotel room. He was then refused entry into the room. He then took a quick look around the room to find a poster of himself. He pointed it out to security, who were also convinced by the other people in the line, and he was let in. Anyone think that maybe he did it on purpose.....?