Main Event Day 1D Recap
Date: Mon, Jul 7, 2008
The fourth and final flight of Day 1 for the 2008 WSOP Main Event kicked off on Sunday. It was the busiest flight of the opening round with 2,461 runners partaking in the hectic festivities.
The Buzz: After lots of negative speculation, the final numbers were released. 6.844 total runners bought into the 2008 WSOP Main Event. $9.1 million would go to the winner and the top 666 players would get paid prize money.
Quote of the Day: "We're here as friends of poker. Two years ago under a Republican controlled Congress, they took your right to play poker on the internet away. With your help, we're going to change that wrong law," said Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) as he spoke to the crowd before Day 1D started.
Sight of the Day: The entire Amazon Room was filled along with the Tropical Room (former used for satellites), the Brasilia Room, the poker room, and even the hallway in front of Buzio's restaurant held tables.
Celebrities: Two UFC fighters Chuck Lidell and Forrest Griffin were in the mix along with Sam SImon (The Simpsons), Jen Tilly, golfer Paul Azinger, and former baseball players David Wells and Jose Canseco,
Day 1d Eliminations: Phil Ivey, DonkeyBomber, Jesus, Mario Ho, Jen Tilly, Grant Levy, Chainsaw Kessler, Vinny Vinh, Eskimo, Andy Bloch, Patrick Bruel, Phil Tom, Jose Canseco, Noel Furlong, Paul Wolfe, Scott Lazar, David Williams, Joe Pelton, Forrest Griffin, George Danzer, Chuck Liddell, Sam Simon, Annie Duke, John Murphy, Shaniac, CK Hua, Eugene Todd, Fabrice Soulier, Cyndy Violette, Layne Flack, Melissa Hayden, and Ray Davis.
Big Stacks: Pros Victor Ramdin, Carlos Mortensen, and David Oppenheim all had big stacks at one point after the dinner break.
Main Event Day 1C Recap
Date: Sun, Jul 6, 2008
The WSOP Main Event was in full swing at the Rio. The third flight of Day 1c attracted 1,928 runners.
The Buzz: Although Harrah's tried to hide the exact number of the main event, word got out that the number finally passed 6,000 and last year's number. Day 1c was the largest flight to date and helped pushed the over all totals.
Sight of the Day: Garry Gates lost a prop bet to Evelyn Ng in Guitar Hero. He had to dress up in a toga and fan her and feed her grapes for 30 minutes.
Hotties in the Field: Lacey Jones, Evelyn Ng, Kara Scott, Isabelle Mercier, Michele Lewis, Tiffany Michelle, and Liz Lieu were all playing on Day 1c.
Day 1c Eliminations: Marcel Luske, Andre Akkari, Tony G, David Plastik, Paul Darden, Jonathan Kalmar, TJ Cloutier, Kirk Morrison, Mark Gregorich, JC Tran, Bryan Devonshire, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Kevin O'Donnell, Anthony Lellouche, Marco Traniello, Bart Hanson, Joe Tehan, Sam Khouiss, David Chiu, Jesper Hougaard, Issac Haxton, ZeeJustin, Matt McCullough, Jeffrey Lisandro, Gavin Griffin, Vivek Rajkumar, Dmitri Nobles, Joe Reitman, Mimi Tran, Terrence Chan, Edward Moncada, Joe Commisso Scott Seiver, Mike Sexton, Daniel Alaei, Davidi Kitai and the Italian Pirate Max Pescatori.
Big Stacks: David Singer, Evelyn Ng, Brad Booth, Kara Scott, and Henning Granstad.
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.
J.C. Tran Wins 2008 WSOP Event #49
Date: Tue, Jul 1, 2008
Poker Pro JC Tran joined the exclusive club of WSOP gold bracelet owners when he capped the field of 2,718 starters in event #49, $1,500 No Limit Hold'em. Tran came to the final table in the #2 spot on the chip count list with 1,438,00 making him a 2-1 underdog behind chip leader Rasmus Nielsen holding 2,998,000 in play money. The two would play heads-up for the gold and cash after the elimination of the seven other final table players.
During the heads-up Tran took charge of the game and although he was holding 2.3 million to Neisen's 5.9 million he aggressively and surgically moved the chips to his stack. In the end his A,Q paired when a Queen came on the flop and Nielsen was down to needing a miracle. There was no miracle on this day and JC Tran had his first WSOP win.
JC Tran takes down his first WSOP solid gold bracelet plus a very nice $631,170 in cash. Rasmus Nielsen heads across the pond with his $389,557 for second place and John Conroy leaves with the third place money of $278,255.
JC Tran said to watch for him at the Main Event final table and I promised I will be there with the camera to document his win. Congratulations to JC Tran for winning his first WSOP bracelet.
The Orleans Open begins July 5
Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2008
If you didn't make it into the World Series, never fear. The Rio isn't the only place for big tournaments.
The Orleans is offering their annual Orleans Open beginning July 5 and running through July 20.
All 16 events take place one per day beginning at noon in the Mardi Gras room. Buy-ins range from $200 to $2000.
Events are:
#1 July 5 $200 No-Limit Hold'em
#2 July 6 $200 Omaha Hi-Lo
#3 July 7 $200 Limit Hold-em
#4 July 8 $200 7-card Stud
#5 July 9 $300 No-Limit Hold'em
#6 July 10 $300 7-card Stud Hi-Lo
#7 July 11 $300 Omaha Hi-Lo ("Battle of the Sexes")
#8 July 12 $300 No-Limit Hold'em (LIPS tourney)
#9 July 13 $330 No-Limit Hold'em
#10 July 14 $500 No-Limit Hold'em
#11 July 15 $500 "Battle of the Ages"
#12 July 16 $500 Casino Employee Event
#13 July 17 $500 Mixed Limit/No-Limit Hold'em
#14 July 18 $1000 No-Limit Hold'em
#15 July 19 $1000 Omaha Hi-Lo
#16 July 20 $2000 No-Limit Hold'em
The $200, $300, and $500 tournaments are one-day events. The $1000 and $2000 tournaments are two-day events.
All levels are 45 minutes each.
If you play in the tournament, you can get $55 rooms Sunday-Thursday and $100 Friday-Saturday between July 2 and July 23. Use the code 8ORLC07 at this link.
For more information and to print out a registration form to pre-register, click here.
Scotty Nguyen is the 2008 WSOP $50K H.O.R.S.E. Champion
Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2008
Scotty Nguyen is the poker champion of the world! After more than twelve hours of play the 1998 WSOP Main Event Champion finally defeated the last remaining player between him and the championship. Demonstrating his fierce competitive nature the Viet Nam native showed his opponents the way to the door. With his handy long neck beer, sans label, and his distinctive laugh the former world champion became the newest all-around poker world champion and will have his name engraved on the David "Chip" Reese Trophy along with the late Chip Reese (2006) and defending champion, Freddy Deeb (2007).
Jeff Pollack, WSOP Commissioner, summed it up quite nicely when he said, "Scotty may be know as the Prince of Poker, but tonight he played like a King." This is Scoty's fifth WSOP title and definitely the most prestigious. Most of the professional poker community consider this event to be the real Poker World Championship since players must show skill in five popular forms of poker.
Scotty Nguyen takes home $1,989,120 plus the special WSOP gold and diamond bracelet for outlasting a blue ribbon field of 148 poker players. Second place finisher, 22-year-old Michael DeMichele, collected $1,243,200 for his five days of work. Erick Lindgren received $781,440 for third place. Matt Glantz was paid $568,320 for fourth, Lyle berman gets $444,000 for fifth, Barry Greenstein has an extra $355,200 for his charities after finishing sixth, former WSOP world champion Huck Seed is $284,160 richer with the seventh place money, and Patrick Bueno left in eight place taking $230,880.
Congratulations to Scotty Nguyen for showing the world that poker is definitely a game of skill when played by professionals.
Alexandre Gomes Wins 2008 WSOP Event #48
Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2008
Alexandre Gomes made history when he took the final all-in pot of WSOP event #48 to become the $2,000 No Limit Hold'em champion. It's the first WSOP gold bracelet won by a Brasillian. Second place finisher Marco Johnson couldn't contain the aggresive style of the Gomes and watched his chips and hopes march across the table in an orderly fashion until the final all-in. Holding Q,J of spades Johnson immediately called Gomes' all-in bet only to find the kid from Brasil holding A,K of spades. The turn brought an Ace and Johnson was drawing dead. Alexandre Gomes supporters immediately raised the Brasillian flag and surrounded their new poker hero.
Alexandre Gomes will head back home to South America with the first ever poker gold and $770,540 in first place prize money for topping the huge field of 2317 players. Marco Johnson collected $491,273 for second place and Ryan D'Angelo takes away $326,812 for third. Well known Russian pro Kirill Gerasimov finished sixth and received $177,111.
Congratulations to Alexandre Gomes for making poker history.
Ryan Hughes Wins 2008 WSOP Event #47
Date: Sun, Jun 29, 2008
Ryan Hughes should have been home two days ago, instead he's spending Saturday night at the 2008 WSOP collecting his second WSOP bracelet for Seven Card Stud Hi/Low. He won his first bracelet last year in another Seven Card Stud Hi/Low WSOP event. Ryan once again displayed his poker savvy with an aggressive, mistake-free game to overtake early chip leader Ron Long and cruise into the victory lane.
Ryan Hughes collects $183,368 to go with the second piece of WSOP jewelry after topping the 544 player field. Ron Long picks up $113,240 for second and Thomas Hunt takes home $68,686 for third. Noted poker pro and two-plus-two author David Slansky made the final table, going out in the eight spot for $19,306.
Congratulations to Ryan Hughes for his win and his second WSOP gold bracelet.
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