The Main Event

Soon a new world champion of poker will be crowned as the main event is underway at the WSOP.  The $10,000 buy-in event is the largest poker tournament in the world and concludes 6 weeks of exciting WSOP action.  There have been great stories both at and away from the tables, many of which left people wondering if they should laugh or cry.   There have been crazy prop bets, ridiculously high stakes cash games,
mysterious disappearances, health scares, and usual complaints against Harrah’s.

Hell(muth) of a series

The
biggest story at the tables during the preliminary events at the WSOP was Phil
Hellmuth’s record breaking exploits. 
First he passed TJ Cloutier for most all time WSOP cashes at 60 and then
extended it to 61.  Next Hellmuth broke
the three way tie with legends Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for most all time
WSOP bracelets by winning his 11^th in EVENT 16, a $1,500 NL hold’em
event.  Chan and Brunson appeared at an
impromptu press conference to congratulate Hellmuth on his accomplishment.  When not being interrupted by Hellmuth, Doyle
made sure to point out that all of Hellmuth’s wins have been in Hold’em
tournaments, while he and Chan won bracelets in many different games.  Phil didn’t seemed to mind the jab and vowed to win many many more.  Later in the series Hellmuth was inducted into the poker hall of fame alongside Barbara Enright at the press conference for the Ante up for Africa charity tournament.

 

High Stakes Cash Games

 The Rio and other casinos have seen many huge cash games as a result of players being in town for the WSOP.   Online legend Brian "sbrugby" Townsend, wrote in his blog about million dollar swings against Sammy Farha at the Bellagio early in the WSOP.  Then after the Ante up for Africa charity tournament, Hollywood legends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck joined former "New Kid on the Block" Donny Walhberg at one of the biggest cash games at the Rio.  Damon seemed to use some of the skills he picked up filming the classic poker movie Rounders to book a nice win, while Affleck reportedly donated to the table.

 
 
Harrah’s
Cares?

2007 has
also brought the usual complaints against Harrah’s directed at the way the WSOP
has been managed.  The problems began almost immediately for Harrah’s as event 1 was  plagued by ridiculously long lines and even more ridiculously hard to decipher playing cards.  Lines formed throughout the halls of the Rio of players wanting to register for tournaments.  Those that were lucky enough to make it through the lines had the misfortune of having to play with new decks of cards that Harrah’s introduced for the 2007 WSOP.  The problem was that the cards were impossible to play with and many players couldn’t decipher what they had in their hands let alone what was showing on the board.  The cards were quickly scrapped by Harrah’s, but more problems soon came to light. 

Harrah’s also received many complaints about the overflow tent setup outside, and the sequestered final tables.  Many players had to suffer through uncomfortable heat and questionable smells in the overflow tent setup outside of the Amazon room at the Rio.  Players in the tent had to deal with issues that others in the Amazon room didn’t have to making it unfair to the players in the back.  Also, several final tables were broadcast on
the internet by Bluff/Harrah’s with an hour delay because the hole cards were being
shown.  Because the hole cards were broadcast, the Nevada Gaming Commission
stepped in and insisted that players be sequestered with only one guest or loved one inside of the mysterious
tent.  If any player or fan needed to use the bathroom they were escorted by security to make sure that they didn’t pick up any information along the way.  This hidden final table took away from the usual
excitement and crowd involvement at WSOP final tables which irritated quite a
few players.

 

Crazy Prop Bets 

The mix of players in town for the WSOP has brought about many of the most interesting prop bets in recent history.  Doyle Brunson won $400,000 from an unknown party when Phil Hellmuth won his 11th bracelet.  Phil Ivey wasn’t as fortunate as he reportedly bet two million dollars at 5-1 odds that he would win a bracelet in 2007.  Unless he wins the main event, Ivey will have to add that 2 million to the $200,000 that he lost when he bet that Erick "Edog" Lindgren couldn’t golf 4 consecutive rounds under 100 on one of the hottest days of the year in  while carrying his own bag walking the entire way.  Lindgren won the bet rather handily and reportedly took down over $300,000 in total for his impressive efforts.  There have also been rumors about Daniel Negraneu getting heavy odds to win a bracelet and same for Eli Elezra who won a bracelet in an early stud event.

 

 

 Who’s in
worse shape?

Paul "Eskimo" Clark and Vinny Vinh have both had interesting WSOPs so far to say the least.  “Eskimo” Clark is
a diabetic vet who apparently doesn’t take good care of himself and has caused
Harrah’s to pause three tournaments already for his health scares.  Once he had what was rumored to be a heart
attack in the tent outside and twice he collapsed during the Razz event, but
continued to play because he was the chipleader.  Vinh’s problems have been just as serious as he has failed to show up twice for day 2’s of tournaments in which he was
very healthy in chips.  Vinh’s behaviour and
appearance has increased speculation that he has a serious drug problem.  The good news for Vinh is that even without
showing up, his chips were able to outlast 40 other players in one tournament
and 22 in another, landing him $22,000 and $21,000 respectively.  We are still awaiting the odds for a life last longer bet between Clark and Vinh.

 

Post a comment

Your Name

Your Email Address (required, but not displayed)

Your Web Address (optional)

Your Comment
Filter: TextileSmartyPantsMarkdown

What day of the week has the letter "h" in it's name? (required)