A significantly larger field packed the Amazon Room and several surrounding rooms for Day 2b of the Main Event than Day 2a. The reason being the number difference between Days 1a/1b and 1c/1d. Read more »
Tournament Recap for WSOP Main Event Day 2B
World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker news.
Tournament Recap for WSOP Main Event Day 2A
1,250 players returned to the Rio for the first of two "Day 2s". Day 2A, which kicked off yesterday and, by the end of the evening, only 466 players remained. The survivors of Day 1A and Day 1B convened at 12pm PST led by Day 1A chip leader Mark Garner with 194,900 and Day 1B chip leader Ben Sarnoff with 177,500. The players all easily fit into the confines of the Amazon Room and when the day was done they did not even completely fill one of the four 50-table quadrants. Read more »
Tournament Recap for WSOP Main Event Day 1D
Over 40 hours of poker were played before Day 1 of the World Series of Poker officially came to a close. When all was said and done 6,844 players registered to play in this year's Main Event. While it does not exceed the record set in 2006, it does beat last year's field of 6,358. Players were crammed in every corner of the Rio in order to accommodate what was the largest of the Day 1 fields. Over 2,000 players filled up three rooms in the Rio Convention Center, tables set up in front of the Buzios seafood restaurant, and even ten tables in the Rio Poker Room, which is a good 15 minute walk away from the Amazon Room. Read more »
WSOP $10,000 Main Event Kicks Off
What better way to kick one of the most notorious events in Las Vegas than with Wayne Newton? The singer was on hand yesterday to kick off the festivities at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. On hand with him was the Universiy of Nevada at Las Vegas marching band, who roused the field of 1,297 players as they settled in for a day of exciting poker. Read more »
WSOP Ante Up For Africa Event
While the Brasilia Room in the Rio Convention Center is far from a glamorous setting it served as the stage for yesterday's 2nd Annual Ante Up For Africa charity poker tournament. The event, co-hosted by Annie Duke and actor Don Cheadle drew a number of famous faces from both the poker world and Hollywood. Notable pros in attendance included Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Erik Seidel, and Howard Lederer and some of the non-poker celebrities included Ray Romano, Adam Sandler, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Charles Barkley, and Jason Alexander. Read more »
The 2008 WSOP: By the Numbers
The 2008 WSOP: By the Numbers In poker, it's all about the numbers. What percentage of the time do my opponents raise? How often will I flop a set with pocket sixes? What are the odds that the big blind will call if I put him all in? What are the odds that my opponent makes her flush on the turn? How often will the board pair on the river? Questions like these go through a poker player's head constantly. It's the key to winning and the key to losing. The 2008 World Series of Poker has been a winning endeavor for Harrah's and for the players involved. Let's take a look at some of the key stats from one of the most successful tournament series in history. Read more »
WSOP Main Event Day 1c
Henning Granstad finished a frenzied Main Event Day 1c as the chip leader with 249,950 as play concluded Saturday night. Granstad surpassed Day 1a chip leader Mark Garner's 194,900 to become the overall leader going into Day 2. Read more »
WSOP Main Event Day 1b
2007 Main Event Champion Jerry Yang got Day 1b underway with a speech along with the customary "Shuffle up and deal!" as 1,158 players began play on Friday. The field was smaller than day 1a, as was expected with it being July 4th. Americans, along with players from countries all over the world, wore flags in their caps provided by the staff to celebrate the holiday. Read more »
Erick Lindgren Wins WSOP Player of the Year
As if millions of dollars on the line weren't enough, the WSOP also offers a Milwaukee's Best Light Player of the Year award to one person during each World Series of Poker. This is typically someone who has dominated play throughout the entire tournament schedule. In hold'em, points are awarded based on a person's finish, with 100 points going to the first place finisher, 75 to the second place finisher, 60 to the third place finisher, and continuing down to five points just for cashing. Different point structures exist for different types of poker. Play is only tracked during the Las Vegas WSOP (the WSOP Europe and Circuit Events do not count). The Main Event, Seniors Event, Ladies Event, and the Casino Employees tournament do not count. With that in mind, let's take a look at the top finishers in the 2008 Player of the Year standings. Read more »
Matt Graham Wins Marathon WSOP Limit Shootout
One of the staples of World Series of Poker tournaments are marathon matches. I remember covering the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event (the year that Jamie Gold won). Play would start every day around noon and wrap up 16-17 hours later. The next day, everyone would stumble back to the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino to start all over again. In shootout events, advancing through the tournaments works slightly differently. Instead of collapsing tables, each step in the process becomes the equivalent of a sit and go tournament. If you win your table, you move on. If you don't, you're knocked out of the tournament. There were 823 entrants into Event 53 of the 2008 WSOP, a $1,500 Limit Shootout tournament. In the end, Matt Graham defeated Jean-Robert Bellande to take home his first WSOP bracelet. Read more »
Records Set at the 2008 WSOP
The 2008 World Series of Poker has been the focus of the poker universe for the past six weeks. There have been 53 tournaments completed and the 54th, the $10,000 buy-in Main Event, is in full swing from Las Vegas. Given that online poker in the United States has become complicated with the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 as well as the recent failure of HR 5767, it's refreshing to see that poker continues to remain popular. Let's take a look at some of the superlatives reached at the 2008 WSOP just days into the Main Event. Read more »
Marty Smyth Wins $10,000 PLO Event
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi was unable to make history Monday evening. Mizrachi was attempting to claim victory in the same event that his brother Rob won last year, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship, but his goal fell short as took home third place for $331, 279. Read more »
J.C. Tran Wins First WSOP Bracelet!
J.C. Tran finally accomplished Monday night the one thing that had avoided him during his professional poker career: He earned his first World Series of Poker bracelet. Read more »
Scotty Nguyen Wins $50K HORSE Championship
Besides the Main Event, all eyes at the World Series of Poker gaze with fascination towards the $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship. This five-day event has become a staple of the WSOP since its introduction in 2006. With a buy-in that is five times the size of the Main Event's price tag, the $50K HORSE event at the 2008 World Series of Poker attracted a field of 148 players. Making the eight-man final table was a lineup of elite poker players. In the end, Scotty Nguyen took down his fifth World Series of Poker bracelet, emerging victorious in one of the most heralded events in WSOP history. Read more »
Scotty Nguyen Wins $50,000 H.O.R.S.E and More
After five grueling days of play, the $50,000 HORSE has finally crowned a champion who will be the inaugural recipient of the David "Chip" Reese Memorial trophy. The final table kicked off at 3pm and, fifteen hours later, only one man, Scotty Nguyen, was left standing. Nguyen began the day second in chips and remained towards the top of the leader board all day. Along the way to his victory, Nguyen knocked out Barry Greenstein in 6th place, Matt Glantz in 4th place, and Erick Lindgren in 3rd place. Read more »
WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E Final Table and More
After four lengthy days of play, the $50,000 HORSE final table was set late last night with the elimination of Ralph Perry in 9th place. Erick Lindgren is the chip leader going into the final table today with 3.85 million, but Scotty Nguyen is not far behind with 3.55 million. Read more »
WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E Day 3 and More
The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event reached its final 24 players and stopped play late Friday evening during Level 17. Action will pick back up at 3:00 PT Saturday and won't end until the final table of eight is decided. Michael DiMichelle (1.35 million), Barry Greenstein (1.31 million), Daniel Negreanu (1.22 million), Ralph Perry (1.04 million) and Scotty Nguyen (1.03 million) will enter Day 3 as the chip leaders and the rest of the field will be playing catch up. Read more »
WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E Day 2 and More
The media and spectator circus died down a bit during Day 2 of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship but many of the big names in the field were still very alive as play concluded for the evening. Read more »
The Seniors Are Coming! WSOP Event #42
They came out in droves to Event #42 of the 2008 World Series of Poker. June 25th marked the stirring conclusion of the $1,000 buy-in Seniors World Championship. A tournament designed with the over-50 crowd in mind, the Seniors World Championship is always one of the highlights of the WSOP. This year’s tournament was the… Read more »
Belgium Notches its First WSOP Bracelet
If you're like many of the people looking at this article, you just read that headline and thought, "Really?" Well, it's true. No one from the country of Belgium had captured a World Series of Poker bracelet, until late Sunday night, that is. Brussels native Davidi Kitai became the first Belgian player ever to win a World Series of Poker bracelet in Event #38, a $2,000 pot limit hold'em tournament. He bested a field of 605 of poker's elite, cashing for $244,583. More importantly, he put his own country on the WSOP map. For one night, it seemed, Belgium was on top of the world. Read more »
David Benyamine Wins First WSOP Bracelet
The break room at the offices of Full Tilt Poker was buzzing on Monday morning with news that one of its pros, David Benyamine, had won his first World Series of Poker bracelet over the weekend. Read more »
