Main Event Day 1B Recap
Date: Sat, Jul 5, 2008
The 2008 WSOP Main Event continued with Day 1B which featured only 1,158 runners. The 2007 WSOP Champion Jerry Yang kicked off festivities by uttering the famous words, "Shuffle up and deal!"
The Buzz: It was the Fourth of July and as America celebrated a birthday, the second flight of Day 1 of the 39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event was underway. Andy Griggs, a country western singer, sang the National Anthem and thanked current and former members of the military for their dedicated service.
The Back Story: Everyone speculated about the impending low numbers for the Main Event. Yesterday everyone was confident that they would break last year's record. But after Friday's lackluster turnout, everyone is wondering if it will reach 6,000.
Sight of the Day: Since it was Independence Day, the staff handed out miniature American flags in addition to various flags of other nations. The German players picked up German flags, while the Canadians had theirs and so on...
Quote of the Day: "Yes, America is indeed the 'land of the free'. You're just not free to play online poker," said MeanGene about the hypocrisy of the Fourth of July.
The Celebrities: Australian cricket god Shane Warne, boxer Jeff Fenech, and former major league baseball player Orel Hershiser were among the celebrity players in Day 1b.
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The Eliminations: Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer, Daniel Negreanu, Andy Black, Ted Forrest, Tom McEvoy, Jamie Gold, Kristy Gazes, Kenna James, Olga Varkonyi, WIlliam Thorson, DanDruff, and Ross Boatman, Nordberg, Orel Hershiser, Kenny Tran, and Dewey Tomko failed to advance to Day 2.
The Big Stacks: Marc Karam, Mike "SirWatts" Watson, and Patrik Antonius all had big stacks when Day 1b ended.
Main Event Day 1A Recap
Date: Fri, Jul 4, 2008
The 39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event kicked off at the Rio Casino. The $10,000 buy in event attracted players from all over the world who converged on poker's Mecca for the most prestigious poker tournament in the world. Day 1 was split up into four flights. 1,297 players bought into Day 1A which is up 10 entrants from last year's number.
The Buzz: Everyone was wondering if the Main Event numbers would be down. The small field on Day 1a worried some, while others still have high hopes that the weekend flights will attract more runners. No official numbers have been released but there are signs suggesting that this year's mark will fall short of last year's mark.
Celebrity Players: Jason Alexander (aka George Costanza), Mekhi Phifer, and Ray Romano were all in the field on Day 1.
Quote of the Day: "Shuffle up and deal!" said the famous words to begin this year's event
Sight of the Day: The legendary Wayne Newton kicked off festivities followed by the UNLV marching band performing 'Viva Las Vegas'.
Day 1a Eliminations: Gavin Smith, Erica Schoenberg, Mekhi Phifer, Dan Harrington, Jason Alexander, Shawn Rice, Tuan Lam, David 'The Dragon' Pham, Freddy Deeb, Devilfish, David Benyamine, Young Phan, Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond, Chad Brown, Ralph Perry, Joe Sebok, Juha Helppi, Roland de Wolfe, Berry Johnston, Jon Little, Josh Arieh, Jeff 'YellowSub' Williams, Miami John Cernuto, JJ Liu, Tony Ma, Bob Feduniak, Roy Winston, Katja Thater, Taylor 'Green Plastic' Caby, Lyle Berman, Raymond Rahme, Jan Von Halle, Shirley Rosario, Maureen Feduniak, Vanessa Selbst, John Gale, and Tom 'Durrrrr' Dwan.
End of Day 1a Big Stacks: Brandon Adams, Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, and Mark Vos.
Approximately 657 players advanced to Day 2.
Mike Matusow is Flipchip's Pick to win it all
Date: Thu, Jul 3, 2008
Mike Matusow is the player that has best demonstrated the skills and attitude required to become the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion. From my casual observations through the viewfinder I've detected a major change in the attitude and demeanor of the sometimes caustic "Mike the Mouth." Matusow has never been one to hide his feelings at a poker table and this has more than once proven to be his Achilles heel; but, this year there appears to be a new downsized Mike that gained a lot of self confidence and maturity while losing a lot of weight.
He has played with a focused determination to win and it has paid off with a 2008 WSOP bracelet in event #18. Mike has always been overloaded with natural talent for the game and is considered to be one of the great Omaha players; so, if everything comes together and he remains committed to the "new Mike" we could see him in the winners circle come November. Of course, he must survive the next couple of weeks to become one of the final table nine. Barring an unforeseen run of bad luck Mike Matusow could very well be the next WSOP World Champion.
Matt Graham Wins 2008 WSOP Event #53
Date: Thu, Jul 3, 2008
A field of 823 players entered the final event before Thursday start of the 2008 WSOP Main Event. The two day affair saw all but 75 players eliminated on day 1 with the lucky survivors returning Wednesday at 2:00 pm and playing until there was only one to take the final gold bracelet of the 2008 WSOP (FYI: the Main Event bracelet is platinum). After more than 17 hours of tough poker the winner was decided a little after 7 this morning when Matt Graham made a miraculous come-back from near disaster to defeat Jean Robert Bellande in heads-up play and take the gold bracelet plus $278,180 in cash. Jean Robert Bellande received $173,564 for second place while Joe De Niro completed the top three to receive $107,845 for third place.
Jean Robert Bellande of the Survivor Show fame was at the final table and as expected the outspoken poker pro insured the game was never boring. 1996 WSOP World Champion Huck Seed was seen at the rail conferring with Jean-Robert during the all-night poker fest. Bellande took charge of the table and the chips and then the cards turned to favor Graham. This is Matt Graham's first WSOP bracelet and title.
Congratulations to Matt Graham for hanging tough and taking down Event #53 at the 2008 World Series of Poker. The first day of the Main Event will be getting underway today at Noon. Don't forget to stop by the WSOP Lifestyles exhibition opening at 11:00 am today in the Rio Pavilion.
David Daneshgar Wins 2008 WSOP Event #52
Date: Thu, Jul 3, 2008
David Daneshgar stayed alive with a chip and a chair in the final $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event of the 2008 World Series of Poker. Considering the capacity crowd of 2693 poker players that begin the event three days ago proved this to be a monumental task for the Westlake Village, California poker player. Daneshgar came to the final table in the middle of the chip leader board and hung on to his position as the other players were eliminated.
In the heads-up play David Daneshgar (3,265,000 in chips) faced Scott Sitron (4,874,000 in chips) and begin moving chips across the table until the final hand when he called Scott's all-in bet with a pair of pocket Tens. No help came for Scott Sitron and David Daneshgar becomes the final $1,500 NLHE champion for 2008, collecting his first WSOP bracelet and $625,443 in cash. Scott Sitron heads home to Milwaukee, Wisconsin with an extra $385,974 and third place finisher Dan Heimiller received $275,695.
James Schaaf Wins 2008 WSOP Event #51
Date: Wed, Jul 2, 2008
James Schaaf will be heading back to Torrance, California with a WSOP gold bracelet and $256,412 in cash for his first ever venture into big-time World Series of Poker poker. The bracelet on Schaaf's arm had Phil Hellmuth name all over it when the "Poker Brat" made the final table with a big pile of chips; but, missed winning bracelet #12 when he went out in the third spot. Both James Schaaf and second place finisher Tommy Hang breathed a collective sigh of relief watching the intimidating Hellmuth head to the rail.
After having been almost eliminating and finding himself down to a chip and a chair Shaaf caught a few breaks and rebuilt his chip stacks to go into the heads-up play with 880K to Hang's 1.5 million in play money. A few more lucky breaks and mistake free poker saw Shaaf pull ahead and finally eliminate the always tough Tommy Hang. Hang received $158,933 for second and Hellmuth collected $93,168 for his $1,500 investment. Phil Hellmuth's last opportunity to claim a 12th bracelet this year will be the $10K Main Event which gets under way with day 1A on Thursday.
Congratulations to James Schaaf for his first WSOP bracelet and cash.
Marty Smyth Wins 2008 WSOP Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship
Date: Wed, Jul 2, 2008
The final 2008 WSOP World Championship before the Main Event is now in the record book and we have a winner from down under. Australian Marty Smyth collected the gold bracelet and $859,532 in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship. He outlasted a field of 381 Omaha players to take down WSOP event #50. He defeated Peter Jetten in heads-up play when the river produced a club to give him the winning club flush. It took a few moments for Smyth to realized he had won after he overlooked the club draw in all the excitement.
As expected anytime there is an Aussie in the thick of it the crowd was consuming copious amounts of brew and loudly demonstrating their support for a fellow countryman...anyone remember when Joe Hachem won the main event in 2005? Peter Jetten enjoyed a nice payday for second place when he received $528,257. Poker super star Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi finished in third place for $331,279. Michael had his own cheering section that shouted their approval when he would take down a pot.
Congratulations to Marty Smyth.
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