2007 World Series of Poker reports
by Andrew W Scott
6 to 17 July 2007

World Series of Poker Report

by Gambling Correspondent Andrew W Scott
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Sunday 8 July 2007, 6pm (Las Vegas time)

As far as I can determine the richest single event prize-money in world sport goes to the winner of the main event at the World Series of Poker. It’s richer than Wimbledon, richer than any golf tournament, and richer than the world’s richest horse race. Last year’s unpopular and controversial winner, former Hollywood talent agent Jamie Gold, took home a whopping US$12 million. The total prize pool was a staggering US$87 million, paid out to the top 10% of the record breaking 8,773 entrants, each of whom forked out the US$10,000 entry fee. And it should be remembered that the main event is just the last event in a poker carnival that lasts about six weeks. Last year's entire 46-event schedule drew more than 42,000 entrants from 56 countries and distributed more than US$171 million in prize money.

Poker has so often been thought of as a seedy activity, portrayed countless times as the realm of old-time degenerate gamblers in western movies, and as the realm of new-time degenerate gamblers in more modern classics, like Matt Damon’s Rounders. But things have changed now, poker is big business, with an organised world tour, genuine celebrity players, corporate sponsorship, charity days and regular TV coverage. The final table of the main event will be broadcast by ESPN live across the US, and on the internet across the world.

Ever since Aussie Joe Hachem (who featured on last night’s Sixty Minutes) won the big one in 2005, poker in Australia has been booming. A contingent of Aussies, including yours truly, have made the trek to gambling’s mecca for the biggest show in town.

The 2007 World Series of Poker has been underway since June 1, at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, owned by the world’s biggest casino company, Harrahs. This year’s 55-event schedule has not been without controversy, mostly generated by the pressure put on the venue by the sheer number of events played, and the enormous starting fields in those events. The gargantuan Amazon conference hall has been bursting at the seams at all times of the day and night. But all these gripes have been forgotten, now that the main (and final) event for 2007 is underway.

The scale of the main event is mind-boggling in every sense of the word. Sixteen-hour days of intense play, day after day after day, with very few breaks and very few rest days. Players receive $20,000 in tournament chips, and by the time it is over, one player will have all the chips, and that will be well over $100 million in tournament chips. To force play, blinds and antes are progressively increased, with each level lasting two hours. Six levels of play, taking 12 hours in total, are played on day one. It is expected that the entire tournament will take around 35 to 40 levels. Players have to contend with the psychological pressure of knowing they can be busted out of the tournament at any moment. Indeed there will be a few poor souls who get the dubious distinction of being eliminated within minutes, losing their entire US$10,000 entry fee in the twinkling of an eye. The general pattern is that a more than half the remaining field gets eliminated every single day.

The event is scheduled to take seven days to eliminate the thousands of players one at a time until the last man (or woman) is left standing, late on July 17, after perhaps 75 hours of gruelling poker. The field is so huge that “day 1” has to be split into four: days 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D, due to the fact that there are “only” 229 tables at the tournament. A standard regulation table accommodates 10 players, and therefore only 2,290 players can play at once.

The enormous Amazon convention room houses 168 of those tables, including the specially made-for-TV ESPN feature table surrounded by a stadium with four enormous big screens above the table just like the basketball stadia in the US. There is a second “made for TV” table just outside that area, and another 166 tables in the main part of the room. A further 63 tables are in the “Poker Pavilion”, a temporary construction which has been dubbed “The Tent” by the players.

Initially three day 1s were planned: days 1A, 1B and 1C. But a week ago it was announced that what was formerly a rest day had been re-assigned to day 1D. The number of registrants is a closely guarded secret at this stage, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that at a rate of say 2,000 players a day, the announcement of a day 1D indicates that more than 6,000 players are expected.

Even after the mass eliminations expected on day 1, day 2 is still scheduled to be split over two days, day 2A and 2B. It isn’t until day 3 that the numbers still alive in the tournament are expected to be low enough that a “day” actually becomes able to be played in a single day.

We won’t know the exact number of players (and therefore the total prize pool) until Monday’s day 1D is in full swing, because entrants continue to register for day 1 as the four days of day 1 proceed. Hence the bizarre situation exists that some players register for the event after some other players have already been eliminated.

I’ll be filing updates regularly throughout the tournament. It will be a life-changing event for the winner, and hopefully it will be me! Yes, that’s right, I’ve decided to stump up the US$10,000 entry fee and take my shot. Hey, someone’s got to win, right?

Day 1A: Friday 6 July

1,287 people started day 1A at 12 noon Las Vegas time, and by the time the dust had settled at approximately 4am the next morning, 842 of them (65%) had busted out, leaving only 445 players left alive. Vegas is currently suffering daily maximums around 114F (46C), so a collective sigh of relief was heard around the room when it was announced the all play would take place in the air-conditioned Amazon room, without any play occurring in the “fan-cooled” Poker Tent.

Living legend of the game, 1976 and 1977 champion Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson entered the room to a standing ovation, but was eliminated after a few hours. Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond fame also played, but also didn’t make it. 1978 champion and former Bellagio Casino President and CEO, Bobby Baldwin also played today. He is still alive at the end of the day, having turned his $20,000 starting stack into $16,800. While Baldwin’s was not a great day 1, as long as he is alive he remains a threat.

The top five chips stacks at the end of day 1A were:

1st	Timten Oliver	$270,500
2nd	John Dutchak	$209,600
3rd	Steve Austin	$205,000
4th	Michael Tureniec	$203,900
5th	Aurelio Arcano	$166,000

Day 1B: Saturday 7 July

1,545 people started day 1B at 12 noon Las Vegas time, and again play ended around 4am the next morning, with only 587 players left alive. Once again players were thankful that all play was in the air-conditioned Amazon room.

The Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon played today, and was still alive with $44,400 in chips at the end of the day. An amazing story of the day was that of blind player Jason Holbrook. He has a female assistant who whispers in his ear what his cards are and provides a commentary as every hand (including the hands he is not involved in) unfolds. Holbrook sits with his head down on the table, a picture of total concentration. High stakes tournament poker is tough at the best of times, but to play blind is an extraordinary feat. Sadly Jason did not make it through the day, but he certainly won the admiration of all who watched him.

With fields this huge, there are bound to be extraordinary poker hands. Take this one: an unknown player holding a pair of 8s must have felt confident when the board came 8s Jh 8h, giving him four of a kind, an absolute monster hand. Unfortunately he ran into Gene Strickland who was holding 9h 10h, and when the fourth and fifth board cards came 7h 3c, Strickland made a straight flush. As any poker player will tell you a straight flush beats four of a kind, but losing with four of a kind in poker is akin in the luck stakes to being hit on the head by a meteorite.

How’s this for another incredible hand: four players hold AA, AA, KK and TT respectively. The board comes 5 7 6 4 3 with no flushes and they split the pot up four ways, all sharing the straight on the board. Seeing a pair of Aces against another pairs of Aces is strange enough, but with pocket Kings and pocket tens as well? And then the board comes with a made straight???? That must be odds of millions to one.

Australia’s own 2005 champion Joe Hachem played on day 1B, on the ESPN feature TV table. It was a tough day for Joe, but he is still alive having turned his $20,000 starting stack into $35,300 in tournament chips. He survived a very scary moment when his Ace-King was up against a pair of Aces, but the flop came 10-Jack-Queen giving him a very lucky straight.

Aussies Gary Benson and Sam Khouiss also played on day 1B. Benson struggled for most of the day, getting up to $55,000, dropping back to a mere $8,000, but managing to finish the day with a respectable $41,900. I watched Gary for over an hour, he was clearly frustrated but played his usual strong and tight game. I also watched Sam for a while, and his standard endless patter was in overdrive. One hand he announced to his opponent “I am miles ahead of you here”, but then his opponent raised him, and Sam reluctantly folded. It was a great fold because both players graciously showed each other their cards after the hand and Sam would have lost had he called the raise.

1998 champion Scotty Nguyen and the lovely Evelyn Ng were playing on the second TV table. They both survived the day with $129,000 and $70,800 in tournament chips respectively. Other big names still alive include 1995 champion Dan Harrington. 1988 runner up Erik Seidel has been eliminated.

Chips stacks at the end of day 1B:

1st	Dag Martin Mikkelsen	236,000
2nd	Jeff Banghart	186,200
3rd	Albert Strickland	180,700
4th	George Dunst	168,900
5th	Lewis Pilkington	166,000

Some Australians still alive that played on day 1B:

87th	Sam Khouiss	88,900
312th	Gary Benson	41,900
369th	Joe Hachem	35,300

Day 1C: Sunday 8 July

1,743 players are playing today (Las Vegas time), the biggest day 1 field so far. Today’s players include 1991 winner Brad Daugherty, poker pros Phil Ivey and Allen Cunnigham, Seinfeld star Jason Alexander, Celine Dion’s husband Rene Angelil, 2000 winner Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, former NHL player Rick Tocchet, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, 2003 winner Chris Moneymaker, poker author and veteran T.J. Cloutier, poker pros Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Men "The Master" Nguyen and American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth amongst many other celebrities and poker professionals and amateurs alike.

Due to the larger field some players did find themselves in the poker tent, including T.J. Cloutier, but by the end of the first two levels enough players had busted out to consolidate all play into the main Amazon room.

Mike Panzarella busted out on an incredible hand. He was looking at a board of A 7 2, with a pair of Aces in his hand. Mike bet, but his opponent, Takaski Takii, re-raised all in. After Panzarella called Takii flipped over 8 8, with no flush potential. The final two board cards came 8 and 8 to give him four of a kind to send Panzarella packing. To catch two perfect cards like that has odds of nearly 1,000-to-1. Someone should put Panzarella on suicide watch for the next 24 hours! What a way to go.

At the time of filing this report, day 1C was into the third level for the day. Highly regarded poker pros Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow have all just been eliminated. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson is up to $44,000 in chips. George Costanza (sorry, Jason Alexander) is master of his domain with $34,000 in chips. The chip leader at the moment is David Mitchell-Lolis with $82,000.

Tomorrow’s day 1D is expected to be the largest field of the four days 1s. Your intrepid reporter is playing tomorrow, starting on table 227, sitting in seat number 3, at 5am Tuesday Eastern Australian time. Wish me luck!

Live minute-by-minute updates of the tournament are available here:

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-55-world-championship-no-limit-holdem/

© 2007 Andrew W Scott – Permission granted to run this piece, only if the original author is acknowledged as Andrew W Scott.

 

World Series of Poker Report

by Gambling Correspondent Andrew W Scott
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Tuesday 10 July 2007, 11am (Las Vegas time)

Day 1C: Sunday 8 July

1,743 players played on day 1C. Players included 1991 winner Brad Daugherty, poker pros Phil Ivey and Allen Cunnigham, Seinfeld star Jason Alexander, Celine Dion’s husband Rene Angelil, 2000 winner Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, 2004 winner Greg Raymer, former NHL player Rick Tocchet, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, 2003 winner Chris Moneymaker, 2002 winner Robert Varkonyi, poker authors and veterans T.J. Cloutier and David Sklansky, poker pros Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, “Cowboy” Kenna James, Men "The Master" Nguyen, and Clonie Gowen, Tony Hachem (brother of 200 winner Aussie Joe Hachem), poker pro and actor Jennifer Tilley and American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth amongst many other celebrities and poker professionals and amateurs alike.

Mike Panzarella busted out on an incredible hand. He was looking at a board of A 7 2, with a pair of Aces in his hand. Mike bet, but his opponent, Takaski Takii, re-raised all in. After Panzarella called Takii flipped over 8 8, with no flush potential. The final two board cards came 8 and 8 to give him four of a kind to send Panzarella packing. To catch two perfect cards like that has odds of nearly 1,000-to-1. Someone should put Panzarella on suicide watch for the next 24 hours! What a way to go.

Players eliminated included highly regarded poker pros Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Phil Laak, Shannon Elizabeth, Greg Raymer, Jennifer Tilley, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Clonie Gowen, David Sklansky, T.J. Cloutier, “Cowboy” Kenna James.

662 survived of the starting field of 1,743 players. Amongst them were:

1st	Jeff Norman	281,300
2nd	Thomas Barnard	248,900
3rd	Carl Olson	226,100
4th	Michael Ium	193,800
5th	Juan Fernandez	188,100
59th	Takashi Takii	95,800
235th	Robert Varkonyi	56,600
248th	Chris “Jesus” Ferguson	55,000
256th	Allen Cunningham	53,700
275th	Todd Brunson	51,600
287th	Rene Angelil	50,500
304th	Chris Moneymaker	48,900
374th	Jason Alexander	41,000
489th	Tony Hachem	29,100

Day 1D: Monday 9 July

1,783 players played on day 1D. Players included the oldest person to ever play in the WSOP main event, 94 year old Jack “Jeffrey” Wry, poker brat Phil Hellmuth, poker pros Daniel Negreanu and Chip Reese, 2006 winner Jamie Gold, former pro basketballer Ken “Snake” Norman, 2001 winner Carlos Mortensen, Simpsons star Hank Azaria, A.J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys, Andrew W Scott, Godsmack lead singer Salvatore “Sully” Erna and Australian Julian Powell.

The total number of players for all four day 1s was 6,358, down 2,415 players on last year’s 8,773, but still 739 more than when Joe Hachem won it in 2005, representing massive poker growth in the post-UIGEA poker world. The Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act effectively put a halt to online poker sites making the $10,000 entries prizes in their online tournaments. Even if the UIGEA remains in place (and there are many bodies lobbying for its removal), it should only take a year or two before entries to the event return to the record level set in 2006.

This year first place will win US$8,250,000, substantially down from last year’s US$12,000,000, but more than Joe Hachem’s US$7,500,000 first prize in 2005. This year the top 621 places will be paid, all winning a minimum of $20,320.

Players eliminated on day 1D included me :) , Chip Reese, poker brat Phil Hellmuth (to the cheers and applause of the other players), 2006 winner Jamie Gold and Chip Reese.

641 survived of the starting field of 1,783 players. Amongst them were:

1st	Josh Evans	237,300
2nd	Kevin Kim	196,100
3rd	Jose Barbero	172,600
4th	Cyril Bensoussan	172,200
5th	Gary Styczynski	169,200
75th	Gus Hansen	100,100
103th	Michael Binger	89,900
117th	Carlos Mortensen	86,800
358th	Daniel Negreanu	43,100
429th	Jack W. Wry	35,000

Day 2A, will be played by the 1,032 survivors from days 1A and 1B, and day 2B will be played by the 1,303 survivors from days 1C and 1D. There are 2,335 players remaining in the tournament from the 6,358 starters.

Live minute-by-minute updates of the tournament are available here:

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-55-world-championship-no-limit-holdem/

© 2007 Andrew W Scott – Permission granted to run this piece, only if the original author is acknowledged as Andrew W Scott.

World Series of Poker Report

by Gambling Correspondent Andrew W Scott
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Thursday 12 July 2007, 11am (Las Vegas time)

Day 2A: Tuesday 10 July

The 1,032 survivors from days 1A and 1B played on day 2A. Players included 2005 winner Joe Hachem, TV talk show host Montel Williams, Jane Gold (mother of last year’s winner Jamie Gold), 1998 winner Scotty Nguyen, “Miami” John Cernuto, 2006’s highest female finisher Sabyl Cohen, respected pro players Evelyn Ng and Tony G, movie director Todd Phillips, 1983 winner and nice guy poker author Tom McEvoy, Everybody Loves Raymond star Brad Garrett, actress Deanna Dozier, poker playing attorney Mark Seif, 2006 final table player Doug Kim, 2006 runner up Paul Wasicka, 1996 winner Huck Seed, Australian gambling legend Gary Benson, 1995 winner and chess master Dan Harrington, Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon, WSOP player of the year Tom Schneider, flamboyant Australian Sam Khouiss and 1978 winner and Las Vegas legend Bobby Baldwin.

Players eliminated included Montel Williams, Joe Hachem, Jane Gold, Mark Seif, Doug Kim, Paul Wasicka, Tony G, Sabyl Cohen, Evelyn Ng, Tom Schneider, Tom McEvoy, “Miami” John Cernuto, Deanna Dozier, Doug Kim and Dan Harrington.

Play was stopped early just past midnight, when the number of players reduced to precisely 350. This is so that days 2A and 2B can be combined fairly on day 3, with all players all playing together as one down to the magic number of 621 players. All players finishing in the top 621 will receive prize money.

Amongst the 350 survivors were:

1st	Jeff “The Rain” Banghart	570,100
2nd	Jeff Weiss	550,000
3rd	John Monves	549,800
4th	Tuan Lam	538,500
5th	Bradley Ellis	509,400
44th	Huck Seed	280,500
204th	Sam Khouiss	120,600
229th	Scotty Nguyen	107,200
318th	Gary Benson	44,200

 

Day 2B: Wednesday 11 July

The 1,303 survivors from days 1C and 1D played on day 2B. Players included poker pro and author Daniel Negreanu, 2006 final tablist Allen Cunningham and his longtime girlfriend Melissa Hayden, the oldest player ever to play in the WSOP, 94 year-old Jack “Jeffrey” Ury, Seinfeld star George Constanza (sorry Jason Alexander), Tony Hachem (brother of 2005 Aussie winner Joe Hachem), Rick Salomon (the male star of the high-brow artistic production, One Night in Paris), poker loudmouth Humberto Brenes, 2002 winner Robert Varkonyi, 2000 winner Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, poker author Avery Cardoza, blind player Hal Lubarsky, Celion Dion’s husband Rene Angelil, Todd Brunson (son of poker living legend Doyle Brunson), 2001 winner Carlos Mortensen, poker pro Gus Hansen, 2003 winner Chris Moneymaker, Australian father and son duo Leo and Gary Boxell, Cindy Longoria and Australians Angie Giannino, Kit Manoez and Julian Powell.

Players eliminated on day 2B included Allen Cunningham, Jason Alexander (he experienced major chip shrinkage, in the end it was not the Summer of George), Rene Angelil, Chris Moneymaker, Jack “Jeffrey” Ury, and Rick Salomon.

Amongst the 447 survivors were:

1st	Gus Hansen	622,300
2nd	Hevad Khan	592,500
3rd	Brent Sheirbon	529,300
4th	Markus Gonsalves	512,400
5th	Robert Nehorayan	505,700
17th	Kit Manoez	405,700
24th	Julian Powell	358,800
78th	Leo Boxell	258,700
85th	Carlos Mortensen	254,700
142nd	Robert Varkonyi	182,700
172nd	Chris “Jesus” Ferguson	160,900
298th	Humberto Brenes	94,700
309th	Todd Brunson	90,600
355th	Angela Giannino	64,500
380th	Cindy Longoria	55,100

Now that day 2A and 2B have concluded, the remaining 797 players (from the 6,358 starters) will play as one on day 3, with play commencing at the eleventh level. Play will be tight, as all will be desperate to survive to the top 621 and make it into the money. The winner will receive US$8,250,000, and the top five players over US$1,000,000. 621st place will receive US$20,320, but 622nd place and lower will receive a bit fat zero!

Live minute-by-minute updates of the tournament are available here:

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-55-world-championship-no-limit-holdem/

© 2007 Andrew W Scott – Permission granted to run this piece, only if the original author is acknowledged as Andrew W Scott.

World Series of Poker Report

by Gambling Correspondent Andrew W Scott
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Friday 13 July 2007, 9:30am (Las Vegas time)

Day 3: Thursday 12 July

Finally the split days are over, and the entire field can play as one. Of the 6,358 starters, only 797 remained at the start of day 3. They included the following Australians:

Position	Name	Based	Chip Count
29th	Kit Manoez	Adelaide	405,700
42nd	Julian Powell	Melbourne	358,800
135th	Leo Boxell	Melbourne	258,700
390th	Nicholas Nicolaou	Brisbane	135,400
447th	Sam Khouiss	Sydney	120,600
592nd	Tim Duckworth	Melbourne	83,600
624th	Dion Fotopoulos	Melbourne	69,800
642nd	Tony Hachem	Melbourne	65,300
644th	Angela Giannino	Melbourne	64,500
720th	Gary Benson	Sydney	44,200

Others to start day 3 included:

Position	Name	Based	Chip Count
1st	Gus Hansen	Monaco	622,300
2nd	Hevad Khan	Poughkeepsie, NY	592,500
3rd	Jeff "Mr Rain Banghart	Bennington, NE	570,100
4th	Jeff Weiss	Davie, FL	550,000
5th	Jon Monves	Los Angeles, CA	549,800
108th	Huck Seed	Las Vegas, NV	280,500
125th	Maria Ho	Arcadia, CA	263,400
142nd	Carlos Mortensen	Las Vegas, NV	254,700
188th	Berry Johnston	Bethany, OK	217,900
248th	Gualter Salles	Rio De Janeiro, Brazil	190,100
262nd	Robert Varkonyi	Great Neck, NY	182,700
314th	Chris “Jesus” Ferguson	Pacific Palisades	160,900
335th	Tobey Maguire	Los Angeles, CA	152,900
343rd	Takashi Takii	Sacramento, CA	149,400
401st	John Strzemp	Las Vegas, NV	133,000
440th	Amnon Filippi	Las Vegas, NV	122,100
498th	Bill Baxter	Las Vegas, NV	107,400
499th	Scotty Nguyen	Las Vegas, NV	107,200
518th	Adam Noone	United Kingdom	101,900
523rd	Cancer Outlaw	Sumter, SC	101,000
551st	Humberto Brenes	Costa Rica	94,700
565th	Todd Brunson	Las Vegas, NV	90,600
559th	Pamela Brunson	Las Vegas, NV	91,300
764th	Sully Erna	Boston, MA	32,300

At the start of day 3 there were six former winners still in the hunt: Robert Varkonyi (2002), Carlos Mortensen (2001), Chris “Jesus” Ferguson (2000), Scotty Nguyen (1998), Huck Seed (1996) and Berry Johnston (1986). John Strzemp was runner up to the late Stu Ungar in 1997. Todd and Pamela Brunson are the son and daughter of poker living legend Doyle Brunson, who won back-to-back victories in 1976 and 1977. Bill Baxter is widely know as the man who backed Stu Ungar when Ungar won in 1980, 1981 and 1997.

Tobey Maguire is the actor that played Spiderman in the recent movies of the same name. Sully Erna is the lead singer for Godsmack. Gualter Salles is a Brazilian racecar driver. Takashi Takii owes his tournament life to incredible luck on day 1. He held a pocket pair of 8s to Mike Panzarella’s pocket pair of Aces. The flop (the first three cards of the five card board) came with an Ace giving Panzarella three of a kind, otherwise known as a set, of Aces, an almost unbeatable hand. But the turn (the fourth card) came 8 and the river (the fifth, and final, card) also came 8 to give Takii a miracle four of a kind, and a win on the hand. The odds of those two perfect cards coming like that were 902 to 1.

Many of the 797 starters were desperate to hold on to make it to the top 621 positions, which share the total prize money of US$59,784,954. The day started at 12:12pm, at the eleventh level, with blinds at 1,200/2,400 and a 300 ante.

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was eliminated at 1pm, when his Ace-5 suited lost to William Childs’ pair of Queens when the board helped neither player.

Hand-for-hand play is one of the most exciting yet dreaded periods of any major poker tournament. Hand-for-hand play occurs so that the so-called “bubble” can be correctly determined. The bubble represents all players in the money, in the case of this year’s tournament the bubble comprised 621 players, the so-called “bubble boy” being the 622nd ranked player in the tournament, the highest placed finisher who doesn’t receive any money. Once the tournament gets down to about 10 players away from the bubble, each table begins each hand simultaneously, with no table beginning the following hand until the first hand has been completed on all tables. With approximately 70 tables in play, hand for hand is a logistical nightmare, excruciatingly slow as each hand takes as long as the longest hand of all tables for that particular hand.

The long and laborious process of hand-for-hand play began at 3:50pm, and the bubble finally burst at 5:45pm, almost two hours later. In those two hours, only fifteen hands were played, an average of eight minutes a hand. This is an terrifying period for the short-stacked players, who are desperately praying that other players around them will bust out. Some of these short stacked players have just a few chips, perhaps only enough to pay one blind or a few hands of antes. Some players even sheepishly admit to folding the best possible hand, a pair of Aces, just to remain alive in the tournament. For the big stacks, this is a time that they can add to their chips considerably, by bullying the small stacks, who have every reason to fold and give up their blinds and antes.

When the bubble burst, an enormous cheer erupted across the Amazon room, because those remaining had made the money, all now guaranteed a payout of at least US$20,320. The unfortunate bubble boy was Mr John Sigan, from Strongsville, Ohio, who finished in 622nd place and received nothing for his two and a half days of poker. Once the bubble burst, there was a rush of all-in bets from short stacks and many eliminations quickly ensued.

At 7:05pm Tony Hachem, brother of 2005 champ Aussie Joe Hachem, was eliminated when his pocket jacks lost to 6-7 of clubs when the board came 10c-8c-2d-9h-3h, giving his opponent Jon Kalmar a straight. Tony finished in 552nd place. Australian Angela Giannino finished 578th. All players finishing between 550th and 621st received prize money of US$20,320.

As the day ground into night and more and more players busted out, the tension rose as it became clear the players were getting closer to the big money. One player, upon getting drawn out upon on the turn, slammed his fists into the table causing chips to jump. Once the river card hit and he knew he was busted, he proceeded to lift the entire table off the ground and sent chips and cards flying. The other players managed to scoop their chips up and everything was put back in order. The player in question was escorted from the building by security, and I am sure we will not see him again for the rest of this tournament, and he may even be refused entry to future tournaments based upon his ungentlemanly performance.

After the 550th placed finisher busted out, the prize money kicked up from US$20,320 to US$25,101.

At 9:45pm Todd Brunson busted out with pocket Queens against Ace-Queen, when the board came 9-7-5-A-2. He finished 459th. His sister Pamela ran over and teased him, calling out “last Brunson standing!”, as their father, poker legend Doyle Brunson had busted out on day 1.

At 10:30pm Nasser Hamedani needed medical assistance. Paramedics took him to the hospital for a suspected heart attack, or possibly suffering a panic or anxiety attack. He had a little over 100,000 in tournament chips at the time, but his empty stack was slowly blinding away while he was at the hospital, and his empty chair finished the day with 31,000 in chips at the end of the day, the smallest chip stack of any player left alive at that time. Could he return from hospital tomorrow for what would surely be a miraculous victory?

Everyone who placed between 478th and 549th received US$25,101, including Australian poker legend Leo Boxell who placed 508th. From the 477th finisher the prize money kicked up to US$29,883, which is the amount Sydneysider Sam Khouiss picked up when he was eliminated in 422nd place. From the 414th place, the prizemoney increased yet again to US$34,664, and Aussie Nicholas Nicolaou just scraped into this higher level of prize money, finishing 412th. As the prize money continued to escalate the room became noticeably more tense.

At 11:30pm, the fifteenth level began, with blinds of 3,000/6,000 and a 1,000 ante. At that time there were 399 players remaining.

1997 runner-up John Strzemp finished in 379th place, picking up US$34,664. At 12:15am, the last surviving member of the Brunson clan, Pamela Brunson, was eliminated in 364th place, receiving US$39,445, as the prize money had escalated to this new amount from the 376th placed finisher. Pamela had pocket Queens, but was beaten by Ace-Jack when the board came A-5-4-6-2.

During the day other Australians to bust out without cashing any prize money were Dion Fotopoulos, Julian Powell and Tim Duckworth, all from Melbourne. Only two Australians remaining alive at the end of day, Sydneysider Gary Benson and Kit Manoel from Adelaide.

Play finished for the day at 12:30am, half-way through the fifteenth level, with 337 players remaining alive. There were only about five women left in the field including Mimi Tran, Amanda Baker, and Maria Ho.

The official standings at the end of day 3 were:

Position	Name	Based	Chip Count
1st	Dario Minieri	Italy	2,398,000
2nd	Voidim Triucher	Davie, FL	1,533,000
3rd	John Kalmar	Chortleyville	1,410,000
4th	Hevad Khan	Poughkeepsie, CA	1,319,000
5th	Kenny Tran	Arcadia, CA	1,175,000
11th	Gus Hansen	Monaco	1,044,000
77th	Huck Seed	Las Vegas, NV	544,000
89th	Maria Ho	Arcadia, CA	481,000
114th	Robert Varkonyi	Great Neck, NY	424,000
128th	Karim Vegas	Brookline, NH	393,000
160th	Scotty Nguyen	Las Vegas, NV	321,000
191st	Takeshi Takii	Sacramento, CA	267,000
203rd	Gary Benson	Sydney, Australia	256,000
205th	Adam Noone	London, UK	255,000
222nd	Kit Manoel	Adelaide, Australia	219,000
229th	Humberto Brenes	Costa Rica	210,000
234th	Berry Johnston	Bethany, OK	203,000
281st	Sully Erna	Boston, MA	135,000
287th	Tobey Maguire	Los Angeles, CA	131,000
315st	Bill Baxter	Las Vegas, NV	105,000

Play continues on day 4, Saturday 14 July, with Gary Benson starting on table 72 seat 7 and Kit Manoel starting on table 63 seat 6.

Live minute-by-minute updates of the tournament are available here:

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-55-world-championship-no-limit-holdem/

© 2007 Andrew W Scott – Permission granted to run this piece, only if the original author is acknowledged as Andrew W Scott.

World Series of Poker Report

by Gambling Correspondent Andrew W Scott
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Saturday 14 July 2007, 5am (Las Vegas time)

Day 4: Friday 13 July

Of the 6,358 starters, only 337 remained at the start of day 4. They included the following:

Position	Name	Based	Chip Count
1st	Dario Minieri	Italy	2,398,000
2nd	Voidim Triucher	Davie, FL	1,533,000
3rd	John Kalmar	Chortleyville	1,410,000
4th	Hevad Khan	Poughkeepsie, CA	1,319,000
5th	Kenny Tran	Arcadia, CA	1,175,000
11th	Gus Hansen	Monaco	1,044,000
77th	Huck Seed	Las Vegas, NV	544,000
89th	Maria Ho	Arcadia, CA	481,000
114th	Robert	Varkonyi Great Neck, NY	424,000
128th	Karim Vegas	Brookline, NH	393,000
160th	Scotty Nguyen	Las Vegas, NV	321,000
191st	Takeshi Takii	Sacramento, CA	267,000
203rd	Gary Benson	Sydney, Australia	256,000
205th	Adam Noone	London, UK	255,000
222nd	Kit Manoel	Adelaide, Australia	219,000
229th	Humberto Brenes	Costa Rica	210,000
234th	Berry Johnston	Bethany, OK	203,000
281st	Sully Erna	Boston, MA	135,000
287th	Tobey Maguire	Los Angeles, CA	131,000
295th	Roy Vandersluis	London, UK	127,000
315st	Bill Baxter	Las Vegas, NV	105,000

Roy Vandersluis is a long time resident of Sydney, but was playing under his British passport. Roy, Kit and Gary were the three remaining Australians left in the field.

Play began at 12:07pm. On the very first hand two players busted out picking up US$39,445 for their finishing positions. At 12:30pm Simpsons writer and co-creator Sam Simon was eliminated. At 12:40pm one of the few remaining women, Mimi Tran, was eliminated when her pocket 9s ran into pocket Queens. A minute later we lost another woman when Veronica Dabul’s pocket Queens couldn’t improve against Greg Huffman’s two black Aces. At 12:58pm, the actor most famous for playing Spiderman, Tobey Maguire, called an all-in bet with his pocket Kings. Unfortunately for him he was up against pocket Aces. The board provided him with no improvement and Tobey was crippled, down to approximately 15,000 in chips. He busted out five minutes later.

After the first hour, during which about 40 players were eliminated, the players took a twenty minute break. Overnight chip leader Dario Minieri from Rome dumped off about 400,000 chips with 5-4 against Ace-Queen, slipped back to about 1,800,000 in chips.

Once the number of players reduced to 288, the prize money increased to US$45,422. Overnight Australian chip leader Gary Benson had an unlucky hand in which he lost a substantial portion of his stack. The next hand he went all-in with Ace-King but unfortunately ran into pocket Aces. Gary finished at 1:40pm in 283rd place with $45,422 in prize money. By 2:15pm, the field was thinned to 261 players. At 2:55pm, Godsmack writer and singer Sully Erna was eliminated when his King-Queen of spades lost to Ace-King. The flop had come with two spades but the flush didn’t hit. When we lost our 226th player, the prize money increased to US$51,398. Carlos Mortensen, the 2001 winner, was eliminated in 217th place winning US$51,398. At 3:25pm, Mario Minieri slipped back to 1,300,000 in chips. Stacks over 1,000,000 had become commonplace by now.

At 3:50pm, players returned from a break and began the seventeenth level, with blinds of 5,000/10,000 and a 1,000 ante. The 500 denomination chips had been removed after the fourteenth level. The yellow 1,000 chips and bright orange 5,000 chips have been in play since the beginning of the tournament, but 25,000 chips had now been introduced. The 25,000 chips are actually quite similar to the 5,000 chips, also orange, but a lighter “salmon” shade. Initially a little confusing, players soon acclimatized to the difference.

At 4:42pm Hal Lubarksy was eliminated, in 197th place picking up his US$51,398. His accomplishment was all the more remarkable given that he is legally blind and plays with an assistant who whispers his cards in his ear. At 5:30pm, Donna Blevins busted out when her Ace-10 lost to Adam White’s pocket 5s, with the board helping neither player. White’s win took him to nearly 3,000,000 in chips.

The nine players on the bubble (finishing just outside of the money in 622nd to 630th places inclusive) played a one table freeroll funded by Tournament sponsor Milwaukee Best Light. The winner was Lee Dryer who picked up a $10,000 entry into the 2008 main event, and a year’s supply of beer!

At 5:40pm, 2002 winner Robert Varkonyi was eliminated, when his Ace-5 of clubs was dominated by Ace-Queen. The flop came K-J-10, and Varkonyi was out in 177th place picking up his US$51,398. At 5:50pm, Mario Minieri won an enormous pot, eliminating Deb Blair and increasing his stack to 2,625,000 at the same time. At 5:55pm, 1998 winner Scotty Nguyen doubled up, his stack now at 820,000. At 6:10pm, Kenny Rundh was eliminated in 169th place when his pocket Kings ran into pocket Aces. He picked up US$51,398. From the 162nd placed player, the prize money increased to US$58,570, as it will stay all the way down to the 100th placed player.

At 6:20pm, the eighteenth level began, with blinds at 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante. Early in the level Kelly Jo McGlothlin won a hand, becoming the first woman to crack the 1,000,000 in chips milestone.

At 6:50pm, Maria Ho, the only other woman in the field, found herself in an awkward situation. Jason Welch open-raised for 36,000, Maria re-raised, and then Welch moved all-in and immediately flipped his cards over showing pocket tens, before Ho had a chance to act. Ho had a tough decision to make with her Ace-Jack, but after a few minutes called for her tournament life. The first card on the flop was an Ace and she won the hand, doubling up to 175,000. This was to be the start of a big comeback for Ho. She has a good temperament and I liked her play. Stayed tuned, I think she may go very deep.

Just before the dinner break, 1996 winner Huck Seed doubled up to 584,000. At 7:10pm, the players took the dinner break. Play resumed at 8:45pm, with 153 players surviving. It was announced that play for the day would continue to 12:45am, or until the field reduced to 99 players, whichever came first.

By 9:35pm, the field was down to 145 players. At 9:45pm, Mario Ho doubled up again to increase her stack to 860,000. At 10:08pm, the nineteenth level began, with blinds of 8,000/16,000 and an ante of 2,000. Shortly into the level there were 140 players remaining and the average stack was 908,000. Poker legend Bill Baxter was eliminated in 136th place. At 11:30pm, Gus Hansen put a bad beat on chip leader Tuan Lam. Lam put Hansen all-in, and Hansen called with pocket tens, which were in serious trouble to Lam pocket Queens. Hansen’s ten came obligingly on the flop. Hansen doubled up to 1,406,000 and left Lam with 1,880,000.

By this stage the atmosphere was electric. With less than 15 tables left remaining in the tournament, everyone can see everyone else except for the feature TV tables. The cry of “all-in and call” brings excitement throughout the room, with TV crews coming rushing and fans cheering from the rails. Hundreds of fans are crammed five deep around the rails, and sandwiched into the Milwaukee Best Light Lounge from which there is a great view of the tournament area. Hitting a board card to outdraw an opponent brings cheers and hoots of delight and high fives all around the entourage of the player in question.

By 11:40pm, only 118 players remained, with an average chip stack of 1,078,000. At 12:05am, Mario Minieri, the sole Italian players remaining, took a big hit and was down to 1,400,000. That is exactly one million in chips less than he started the day with.

On the last hand of the night, at 12:40am, we lost Berry Johnston, the 1986 winner, whose 6-5 of diamonds lost out to Ace-Jack. Berry’s elimination means there are now only two previous winners remaining in the field, Scotty Nguyen (1998) and Huck Seed (1996).

The 112 players remaining alive bagged their chips up for the evening and will return at 12 noon Saturday 14 July for day 5, where they will play down to just 27 players. Those 112 players include only two women, Maria Ho and Kelly Jo McGlothlin. The countries of origin of the remaining players are as follows:

The Americas
Canada	2
Costa Rica	2
United States	85
		89
Europe
Cyprus	1
Denmark	2
France	1
Germany	3
Holland	2
Italy	1
Monaco	1
Norway	2
Russia	1
Sweden	2
United Kingdom	5
		21
Africa
South Africa		1
Asia
South Korea		1
TOTAL		112

 

The remaining players include:

Place	Name	Based	Chip count		Comment
1	Dag Martin Mikkelsen	Stavanger, Norway	3,740,000		Highest Norwegian (of 2)
2	Charis Anastasiou	Limassol, Cyprus	2,672,000		Only Cypriate left
3	Richard Harris	Wales	2,662,000		Highest from UK (of 5)
4	Avi Cohen	Boston, MA	2,392,000		Highest from USA (of 85)
5	Jeff Tunkel	Naperville, IL	2,323,000		Second highest from USA
6	Alex Kravchenko	Moscow, Russia	2,274,000		Only Russian left
10	Sven Niklas Heinecker	Hamburg, Germany	1,908,000		Highest German (of 3)
11	Tuan Lam	Canada	1,900,000		Highest Canadian (of 2)
13	Nicolas Atlan	Paris, France	1,837,000		Only Frenchman left
19	Philip Yeh	Stenungsund, Sweden	1,775,000		Highest Swede (of 2)
20	Raymond Rahme	Johannesburg, South Africa	1,763,000		Only African left
25	Gus Hansen	Monaco	1,604,000		Only Monegasque left
28	Ronald Kluber	Seoul, South Korea	1,559,000		Only person from Asia left
48	Humberto Brenes	Costa Rica	1,140,000		Highest Costa Rican (of 2)
56	Ed de Haas	Amsterdam, Holland	1,045,000		Highest Dutchman (of 2)
61	Christian Togsverd	Copenhagen, Denmark	978,000		Highest Dane (of 2)
69	Maria Ho	Arcadia, CA	885,000		Highest woman (of 2)
71	Kelly Jo McGlothlin	Palmdale, CA	871,000		Second highest woman (of 2)
112	Dario Minieri	Rome, Italy	count N/A		Only Italian left

Live minute-by-minute updates of the tournament are available here:

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-55-world-championship-no-limit-holdem/

©2007 Andrew W Scott
May be reproduced but only if the original author is acknowledged as “Andrew W Scott”

World Series of Poker Report

by Gambling Correspondent Andrew W Scott
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Sunday 15 July 2007, 9am (Las Vegas time)

Day 5: Saturday 14 July

Of the 6,358 starters, only 112 remained at the start of day 5. They included the following:

Place	Name	Based	Chip count		Comment
1	Dag Martin Mikkelsen	Stavanger, Norway	3,740,000		Highest Norwegian (of 2)
2	Charis Anastasiou	Limassol, Cyprus	2,672,000		Only Cypriate left
3	Richard Harris	Wales	2,662,000		Highest from UK (of 5)
4	Avi Cohen	Boston, MA	2,392,000		Highest from USA (of 85)
5	Jeff Tunkel	Naperville, IL	2,323,000		Second highest from USA
6	Alex Kravchenko	Moscow, Russia	2,274,000		Only Russian left
10	Sven Niklas Heinecker	Hamburg, Germany	1,908,000		Highest German (of 3)
11	Tuan Lam	Canada	1,900,000		Highest Canadian (of 2)
13	Nicolas Atlan	Paris, France	1,837,000		Only Frenchman left
19	Philip Yeh	Stenungsund, Sweden	1,775,000		Highest Swede (of 2)
20	Raymond Rahme	Johannesburg, South Africa	1,763,000		Only African left
25	Gus Hansen	Monaco	1,604,000		Only Monegasque left
28	Ronald Kluber	Seoul, South Korea	1,559,000		Only person from Asia left
30	Huck Seed	Las Vegas, NV	1,546,000		1996 champion
44	Scotty Nguyen	Las Vegas, NV	1,175,000		1998 champion
48	Humberto Brenes	Costa Rica	1,140,000		Highest Costa Rican (of 2)
56	Ed de Haas	Amsterdam, Holland	1,045,000		Highest Dutchman (of 2)
61	Christian Togsverd	Copenhagen, Denmark	978,000		Highest Dane (of 2)
69	Maria Ho	Arcadia, CA	885,000		Highest woman (of 2)
71	Kelly Jo McGlothlin	Palmdale, CA	871,000		Second highest woman (of 2)
112	Dario Minieri	Rome, Italy	count N/A		Only Italian left

12:14pm: Play begins at the twentieth level. Blinds were 10,000/20,000 with a 3,000 ante. The average chip stack was 1,135,000. Immediately there was a string of eliminations, as the short stacks made their stands:

12:17pm 112th Thomas Koo, Costa Rica ($58,570)
12:18pm 111th Andrew Gunderson, Hoboken, NJ ($58,570)
12:26pm 110th Andreas Krause, Stuttgart, Germany ($58,570)
12:30pm 109th Christopher Lovelace, Brandon, MS ($58,570)
12:36pm 108th Paul Spritzberg, Tenafly, NJ ($58,570)
12:42pm 107th Jimmy Blevins, Oakland, NE ($58,570)
12:43pm 106th Travis Belles, Las Vegas, NV ($58,570)
12:44pm 105th Zhuang Han, Smithtown, NY ($58,570)

12:44pm: Scotty Nguyen won a big hand, crippling Cory Carroll in the process. Scotty bet 125,000 on the turn and Cory called. The river came a Queen and Scotty bet 300,000. Cory raised it to 750,000 and Scotty called, showing pocket Queens for a full house. Corey showed his Ace-Queen, losing the hand and being crippled to 350,000. Scotty moved up to 2,200,000.

12:50pm 104th Richard Crowell, Scottsdale, AZ ($58,570)

12:50pm: Avi Cohen won a huge pot, when Charis Anastasiou moved all in to a pot which already had 1,200,000 in it. Cohen called, and showed that he had a runner-runner flush with the King. Anastasiou mucked and Cohen pumped his hands in the air in delight, moving his chip stack to 4,700,000. Anastasiou has only 300,000.

1:02pm 103rd Brian Tracy, St Louis, MO ($58,570)

1:32pm: Alan Keating was eliminated by Maria Ho. Maria raised in the small blind, and Keating moved all-in from the big blind. Ho called with King-Jack unsuited, but Keating was in front with Ace-Queen unsuited, but the flop came perfect for Ho, J-K-5. When the turn hit J she filled up and it was all over for Keating who picks up $58,570 for his 102nd place.

1:32pm 102nd Alan Keating, Birmingham, AL ($58,570)
1:33pm 101st Pete de Best, Yorba Linda, CA ($58,570)
1:34pm 100th Cody Slaubaugh, Rugby, ND ($58,570)
1:36pm 99th Joe Shield, St Pete Beach, FL ($67,535)
1:46pm 98th Alan Levin, Sante Fe, NM ($67,535)
1:47pm 97th Chad Brown, Los Angeles, CA ($67,535)

1:48pm: Young and fearless Italian internet player Dario Minieri exited the tournament, on a flush draw. His opponent had a set, and all the money went in the middle on the turn. Dario missed his flush and was out, picking up $67,535 for his 96th place.

1:48pm 96th Dario Minieri, Rome, Italy ($67,535)

1:49pm: The second last woman in the field, Kelly Jo McGlothlin, busted out when she moved in her relatively short-stack of 367,000 into the middle of the table with 2-9 of hearts on a flush draw. Her opponent, Senovio Ramirez III called and showed his pocket 10s. There was no improvement for McGlothlin and she takes home $67,535 for her 95th place, and bragging rights that she beat every woman in the field, bar one. That one is Maria Ho, of Arcadia, California, now cemented in place as the tournament’s highest placed woman. I have been following Maria closely and she is playing well, with about 1,000,000 in chips. A Bodog sponsor’s tag has suddenly materialized on her clothes, and she is tasting considerable media attention.

1:49pm 95th Kelly Jo McGlothin, Palmdale, CA ($67,535)
1:50pm 94th Isaac Haxton, Syracuse, NY ($67,535)
1:51pm 93th Michael Zinna, San Antonio, TX ($67,535)
1:52pm 92nd Charis Anastasiou, Limassol, Cyprus ($67,535)
1:54pm 91st Cory Caroll, United Kingdom ($67,535)

2:12pm: With the board reading 10-5-6-10-Q with no possible flushes, Francois Safieddine bet his last 200,000. After waiting several minutes, Tuan Lam asked him “do you want a call?” Safieddine’s response was a stony silence. Finally Tuan called, and Safieddine tossed his hand away without even showing, and headed to the rail. Tuan showed his cards: no pair, just A-K.

2:12pm 90th Francois Safieddine, Denver, CO ($82,476)

2:17pm: Scotty Nguyen kicked up to 2,700,000 in chips he moved all in on a busted flush draw. His opponent Kevin Kim thought long and hard, before finally folding. Scotty showed his worthless 7-8 of spades much to Kim’s dismay.

2:41pm: The twenty-first level begins, with blinds of 12,000/24,000 and a 3,000 ante.

2:49pm 89th John Bird, Dade City, FL ($82,476)

2:58pm: Alex Kravchenko, the sole Russian left in the field, bet 100,000 on a flop of A-7-5 rainbow (meaning three different suits). Richard Harris raised another 100,000, making the bet 200,000. Kravchenko’s reply was to re-raise, making it 300,000 to go. Harris called. The turn came 2 of spades, making a second spade on the board. Kravchenko immediately bet 500,000, building a monster pot. Harris pondered for a considerable time, before folding. Kravchenko moves to 2,640,000 in chips.

3:04pm 88th Jared Hamby, Henderson, NV ($82,476)
3:05pm 87th Jeffrey Weill, Richfield, OH ($82,476)
3:06pm 86th Justin Sadauskas, Chicago, IL ($82,476)
3:20pm 85th David Wells, Kent, England ($82,476)
3:32pm 84th Mark Ellerbe, Richmond, TX ($82,476)
4:08pm 83rd Humberto Brenes, Costa Rica ($82,476)
4:15pm 82nd Francis Cagney, Laguna Niguel, CA ($82,476)
4:19pm 81st Thierry van den Berg, Almere, Holland ($106,382)
4:21pm 80th Sven Niklas Heinecker, Hamberg, Germany ($106,382)
4:26pm 79th Tommy Le, Orange County, CA ($106,382)
4:37pm 78th David Names, San Ramon, CA ($106,382)

5:06pm: The twenty-second level begins, with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and a 4,000 ante.

5:08pm 77th Willie Tann, London, England ($106,382)
5:13pm 76th Josh Evans, Plano, TX ($106,382)
5:14pm 75th Leonard Pruzansky, Richmond, TX ($106,382)
5:17pm 74th Rich Murnick, Montclair, NJ ($106,382)

5:20pm: Huck Seed, one of only two former champions still in the hunt, is eliminated in 73rd place, the last player to pick up $106,382 before the prize money jumps to $130,288. Huck Seed is known for his outrageous proposition bets. He once bet that he could go an entire year without shaving. He lost that bet when he had to shave before a family funeral. He has also bet that he could stand in the ocean for 18 hours straight.

5:20pm 73rd Huckleberry Seed, Las Vegas, NV ($106,382)
5:22pm 72nd Billy Willis, Edmore, MI ($130,288)
5:29pm 71st Ed de Haas, Amsterdam, Holland ($130,288)

5:30pm: Warren Karp looks down at his hand to see the best hand in poker, a pair of Aces. When Kevin Farry raised it up pre-flop to 100,000, Karp moved all in for 900,000. Farry called, and Karp was extremely unlucky when a 5 fell on the turn. Karp was eliminated and Farry moved up to 2,870,000 in chips.

5:30pm 70th Warren Karp, Lake Forest, CA ($130,288)

5:32pm: An enormous pot develops. Avi Cohen check-called Scott Freeman’s 175,000 bet on a flop of 9h-Kd-6h, the turn comes 10 of diamonds and Cohen bets 400,00 but Freeman moves all in for 1,009,000!! Cohen called and tuned over 7-8 for the straight, but Freeman had 6-8 diamonds for the flush draw. The river came 5 of diamonds and Freeman pulled a huge pot.

6:02pm 69th Brandon Adams, Cambridge, MA ($130,288)
6:08pm 68th Dennis Perry, Williamstown, KY ($130,288)

6:08pm: German Stig Tap Rasmussen pulls off an audacious bluff when he moves all-in for over 1,000,000 to a pot that already had about 800,000 in it. Hoa Nguyen folded, and Rasmussen showed his Ace-10 for just Ace high, no pair. Rasmussen moved to 1,620,000 and Nguyen slipped to 1,280,000.

6:20pm 67th Diego Cordovez Palo Alto, CA ($130,288)

6:27pm: A call with three seconds to go. After being in the tank thinking for what seemed like forever, the 1 minute clock was called on Kenneth Smith by his opponent Dag Martin Mikkelsen. The minute ran out and the ten second countdown ensured. As the floorman counts “five, four, three”, Smith yells out “I call, I call!” He regrets his decision, the board was 6-Q-3-4-2 and his Queen-9 was outkicked by Mikkelsen’s Ace-Queen.

6:28pm 66th Ryan Lawrence, Lethbridge, Canada ($130,288)
6:40pm 65th Bjorn-Erik Glenne, Norway ($130,288)
6:44pm 64th Julian Gardner, Manchester, UK ($130,288)
6:55pm 63th Matt Keikoan, San Rafael, CA ($154,194)

7:06pm: With the level already ended but the a final hand of the level still in progress, Jeff Tunkel was eliminated. Five players saw the flop but it came down to Tunkel (holding 9-10 clubs) and Ray Henson (holding pocket jacks) with a board of 6c-8s-Jc. Tunkels monster draw did not improve and he busted out to Henson’s set. Henson moved into the tournament lead with 6,200,000 in chips.

7:06pm 62nd Jeff Tunkel, Naperville, IL ($154,194)

7:07pm: Well respected pro Gus Hansen was eliminated well into the break time, on the last hand before the break on his table. Hansen had been short-stacked for some time made a stand with his final 99,000 with a hand of King-5 unsuited. He was up against Jason Koshi’s Queen-4, but Koshi spiked a 4 on the turn and Hansen was out.

7:07pm 61st Gus Hansen, Monaco ($154,194)

7:08pm: The break was also bad news for John Spadavecchia, who moved all in with Ace-10 unsuited and lost to King-Jack when a Jack came on the flop and a King on the river.

7:08pm 60th John Spadavecchia, Lighthoos Point, FL ($154,194)

7:09pm: The room was cleared of spectators and Tournament staff coloured up all the yellow 1,000 chips and introduced 50,000 chips to the tournament for the first time.

9:00pm: Play recommences at the twenty-third level, with blinds of 20,000/40,000 and antes of 5,000. It now costs 105,000 to play a lap of the table nine-handed, which is more than five times the amount of chips that players were first issued with! A single big blind is double the player’s starting stack amount at the beginning of day 1.

There is a rush of eliminations after dinner:

9:11pm 59th Floyd Clark, Littleton, CO ($154,194)
9:13pm 58th Naseem Salem, Spring Valley, CA ($154,194)
9:14pm 57th Hyon Kim, Hillsborough, NJ ($154,194)
9:36pm 56th Kirk Morrison, Wichita, KS ($154,194)
9:38pm 55th Paul Kershaw, United Kingdom ($154,194)
9:41pm 54th Richard Harris, Swansea, England ($190,053)
9:53pm 53rd Mickey Seagle, Las Vegas, NV ($190,053)
9:59pm 52nd Tom Peterson, La Crosse, WI ($190,053)

10:00pm-10:30pm: The room suddenly goes very quiet, as the players seem to realize as one that they are now in the very serious money. US$8.25 million is at stake here. For an entire 30 minutes there are no eliminations, as each player desperately tries to hang on. Almost every hand seems to be a pre-flop raise followed by a complete fold by the rest of the table. Even still, some hands take as long as six or seven minutes. No player calls time on any other player, as they are hoping that other players around them will bust out and every minute counts. But since all of the six remaining tables are doing this, bust-outs don’t happen. It is like a very serious, high stakes games of watching paint dry.

The entire room takes on the mood of a Mexican stand-off, no-one wanting to budge first. Many chips stacks are stacked in such a way that it is plainly obvious the chips haven’t moved for hours. This is a great example of Tom McEvoy’s famous quote that poker is “hours of boredom punctuated by moments of terror”. Meanwhile, the clock ticks inexorably down to the next level, when the blinds will increase yet again, this time to 25,000/50,000 with an ante of 5,000, at 11pm. The average chip stack is 2.5 million.

10:33pm: Finally, someone busts out. It is Lamar Wilkinson, who was only forced to be because he was down to his last 450,000 in chips, relatively short-stacked. Wilkinson’s Ace-King loses to Lee Childs pairs of Kings, when the board comes with a King. Lee Child’s stack increases to a huge 6.5 million.

10:33pm 51st Lamar Wilkinson, Pacheco, CA ($190,053)

10:42pm: Hevad “Rain” Khan is the room’s most animated character. He has already erupted several times when eliminating other players. He picks up pocket Jacks, and eliminates Ken Smith with pocket tens. Khan instantly erupts in an explosion of energy, throwing both his arms in the air, “come on, come on…yeah!!!!”

10:42pm 50th Ken Smith, Levittown, NY ($190,053)

10:42pm: Hevad Khan is on a roll. Only nine minutes after eliminating Lamar Wilkinson, he picks up pocket Queens and knocks Adam White’s Ace-King out. The moment the last board card hits, Khan goes wild. He leaps from his chair, releases all his pent up energy literally shaking wildly, then picks up his chair, turns it upside down and wears it as a hat, running around the room yelling “do you like my new hat!” He is clearly beyond ecstatic to be this deep in the tournament.

10:48pm 49th Adam White, Tempe, AZ ($190,053)
10:52pm 48th Markus Gonsalves, San Diego, CA ($190,053)

11:00pm: Players go on a break.

11:20pm: Players commence the twenty-fourth level, blinds are 25,000/50,000 with an ante of 5,000. There are 47 players left alive, with an average chips stack of 2,705,000. The chip leaders are starting to move in on 10 million in chips. Player will continue until there are 36 players left, no matter how long it takes.

11:55pm 47th Nicolas Atlan, Paris, France ($190,053)
12:12am 46th Reagan Silber, Las Vegas, NV ($190,053)
12:19am 45th Stig Tap Rassmussen, Köthern, Germany ($237,865)
12:23am 44th Senovio Ramirez III, Mercedes, TX ($237,865)

12:32am: Hevad “Rain” Khan does it again. He made it 150,000 to go pre-flop, and got three callers, but then Avi Cohen moved all-in for his decent sized 2,100,000 stack. Khan was the only caller, turning over Ace-King making Cohen feel sick with his Ace-8. The board helped neither player and Cohen was out. This sparked Khan’s totally ballistic celebration, during which for some inexplicable reason Khan yells out “I’m good at basketball” to no-one in particular.

12:32am 43rd Avi Cohen, Boston, (MA $237,865)
12:38am 42nd Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Stavanger, Norway ($237,865)
12:40am 41st Jeff Banghart, Bennington, NE ($237,865)
12:42am 40th Phillip Yeh, Stenungsund, Sweden ($237,865)
1:08am 39th Rep Porter, Woodinville, WA ($237,865)

1:08am: My personal pick for person mostly likely to go deep in the tournament, Mario Ho, is out. After coming to the rail and saying she was going to just survive to the next day, she decides to move all in with Ace-10 suited. She gets called by Kevin Farry with pocket tens. The board doesn’t help her, and she is busted as the highest placed female finisher.

1:10am 38th Maria Ho, Arcadia, CA ($237,865)

1:30am: The players take a twenty minute break.

1:50am: The players resume for the twenty-fifth level, blinds are 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante. This means it costs 170,000 to play a lap of the table. At say eight hands per lap (some tables are eight handed and some are nine handed), the average blind and ante cost per hand now equals the 20,000 that were the starting stacks of the players. Making it this deep in the tournament could only have been a dream for these players at the start. Day 1 seems like a long, long time ago. There are 37 players remaining alive, and play will stop when we get to 36 players. Everyone is desperately trying to hang on for day 6 tomorrow. Who will be the unlucky last person to be eliminated today?

2:03am: We have an answer. The last elimination for day 5 is Ayaz Mahmood. Mahmood and Mikkel Madsen find themselves in the classic coin flip: Mahmood’s Ace-King against Madsen’s pocket Queens. The board comes ten hair and Mahmood is out.

2:03am 37th Ayaz Mahmood, Houston, TX ($237,865)

2:15am: It takes fifteen minutes to bag up the enormous piles of chips on the tables. The 36 players still in contention now include only one former winner, Scotty Nguyen (1998). They are vying for a first prize of US$8.25 million. The top five all receive over US$1 million. They are all guaranteed a minimum of US$285,678. Those 36 men are:

Position	Name	Based	Chip count
1	David Tran	California	10,280,000
2	Philip Hilm	Cambridge	9,950,000
3	Ray Henson	Houston, TX	8,250,000
4	Hevad Khan	Poughkeepsie, NY	7,585,000
5	Kevin Farry	Pearl River, NY	7,400,000
6	Scott Freeman	Oak Park, CA	7,360,000
7	Lee Childs	Reston, VA	6,520,000
8	Jerry Yang	Temecula, CA	5,090,000
9	Kenny Tran	Arcadia, CA	4,955,000
10	William Spadea	South Easton, MA	4,575,000
11	Tuan Lam	Canada	3,600,000
12	Lee Watkinson	Cheney, WA	3,500,000
13	Stefan Mattsson	Stockholm, Sweden	3,260,000
14	Raymond Rahme	Johannesburg, South Africa	3,100,000
15	Ron Kluber	Seoul, South Korea	3,070,000
16	Bill Edler	Las Vegas, NV	2,680,000
17	Jon Kalmar	Chorleyville	2,665,000
18	John Armbrust	Austin, TX	2,600,000
19	Peter Darvill	Vancouver, BC	2,430,000
20	Hoa Nguyen	Fairfax, VA	2,205,000
21	Bob Slezak	Omaha, NE	2,115,000
22	Jason Welch	Fort Collins, CO	2,115,000
23	Steven Garfinkle	Bellingham, WA	2,115,000
24	Jeff Bryan	Fort Calhoun, NE	2,100,000
25	Mikkel Madsen	Copenhagen, Denmark	2,080,000
26	Christian Togsverd	Copenhagen, Denmark	2,030,000
27	Daniel Alaei	Las Vegas, NV	1,995,800
28	Scotty Nguyen	Las Vegas, NV	1,960,000
29	Ryan Elson	Canton, OH	1,785,000
30	Paulo Loureiro	New York, NY	1,645,000
31	Alex Kravchenko	Moscow, Russia	1,555,000
32	Jason Koshi	Los Angeles, CA	1,175,000
33	Roy Winston	Brooklyn, NY	1,071,000
34	Allan King	San Diego, CA	1,000,000
35	Kevin Kim	Los Angeles, CA	610,000
36	Robin Bergren	Saskatoon, SK	520,000

Live minute-by-minute updates of the tournament are available here:

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-55-world-championship-no-limit-holdem/

©2007 Andrew W Scott
May be reproduced but only if the original author is acknowledged as “Andrew W Scott”

 

World Series of Poker Report

by Gambling Correspondent Andrew W Scott
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Monday 16 July 2007, 11am (Las Vegas time)

Day 6: Sunday 15 July

Of the 6,358 starters, only 36 remained at the start of day 5. Those 36 men are:

Position	Name	Based	Chip count
1	David Tran	California	10,280,000
2	Philip Hilm	Cambridge	9,950,000
3	Ray Henson	Houston, TX	8,250,000
4	Hevad Khan	Poughkeepsie, NY	7,585,000
5	Kevin Farry	Pearl River, NY	7,400,000
6	Scott Freeman	Oak Park, CA	7,360,000
7	Lee Childs	Reston, VA	6,520,000
8	Jerry Yang	Temecula, CA	5,090,000
9	Kenny Tran	Arcadia, CA	4,955,000
10	William Spadea	South Easton, MA	4,575,000
11	Tuan Lam	Canada	3,600,000
12	Lee Watkinson	Cheney, WA	3,500,000
13	Stefan Mattsson	Stockholm, Sweden	3,260,000
14	Raymond Rahme	Johannesburg, South Africa	3,100,000
15	Ron Kluber	Seoul, South Korea	3,070,000
16	Bill Edler	Las Vegas, NV	2,680,000
17	Jon Kalmar	Chorleyville	2,665,000
18	John Armbrust	Austin, TX	2,600,000
19	Peter Darvill	Vancouver, BC	2,430,000
20	Hoa Nguyen	Fairfax, VA	2,205,000
21	Bob Slezak	Omaha, NE	2,115,000
22	Jason Welch	Fort Collins, CO	2,115,000
23	Steven Garfinkle	Bellingham, WA	2,115,000
24	Jeff Bryan	Fort Calhoun, NE	2,100,000
25	Mikkel Madsen	Copenhagen, Denmark	2,080,000
26	Christian Togsverd	Copenhagen, Denmark	2,030,000
27	Daniel Alaei	Las Vegas, NV	1,995,800
28	Scotty Nguyen	Las Vegas, NV	1,960,000
29	Ryan Elson	Canton, OH	1,785,000
30	Paulo Loureiro	New York, NY	1,645,000
31	Alex Kravchenko	Moscow, Russia	1,555,000
32	Jason Koshi	Los Angeles, CA	1,175,000
33	Roy Winston	Brooklyn, NY	1,071,000
34	Allan King	San Diego, CA	1,000,000
35	Kevin Kim	Los Angeles, CA	610,000
36	Robin Bergren	Saskatoon, SK	520,000

Only one former winner remained in the field, 1998 winner Scotty Nguyen. This is the business end of the tournament. Every player remaining will cash for at least $285,678, but there is the chance to cash for a whole lot more than that, right up to the $8.25 million first prize. Play will go down to 9 players, no matter how long it takes. This will prove to be a long, long time. It is the most grueling day of the tournament so far. Play begins just after 12 noon, at the twenty-fifth level, with blinds at 30,000/60,000 and an ante of 10,000. The average stack is 3.53 million.

We lost two players in the first hand. Robin Bergen, the shortest stack in the field, moved all-in under the gun with 10-6 offsuit. Unfortunately he ran into Alan King, another short stack with a pair of Queens who called. Roy Winston, who only just had King covered, also went all in with Ace-King, and King called. The flop came A-10-4, the turn A and the river K. It was all over for Bergen and King.

36th Robin Bergen, Saskatchewan, Canada ($285,678)
35th Allan King, Tacoma, WA ($285,678)

Hoa Nguyen raises to 160,000 on the button, and gets called by Lee Childs in the big blind. The flop comes 3-2-2 with two hearts. Childs checks, Nguyen, bets 225,000, Childs raises to 500,000, and Nguyen stops. He quietly thinks for about two minutes, then calls. The turn comes 9 diamonds, Childs bets 450,000, and Nguyen thinks for about a minute before finally calling. There is 2.34 million in the pot. The river is 4 hearts. Childs check, Nguyen moves all in for 1,085,000. Now the pressure is on Childs – did Nguyen hit a flush? Finally after two minutes, Childs calls. Nguyen shows a pair of 5s for fives and deuces, Childs shows Ace-9 for nines and deuces and Nguyen is out.

34th Hoa Nguyen, Fairfax, VA ($285,678)

On the featured ESPN TV table, Christian Togsverd moves all-in from the big blind with Ace-Jack, and gets called by Tuan Lam, with a pair of Queens. Lam flops top set and Togsverd is out.

33rd Christian Togsverd Denmark ($285,678)

Paulo Loureiro raised 200,000 and Kevin Kim moved all-in for his last 700,000. Kim had Ace-King and Loureiro Ace-9. Kim was unlucky to see a 9 on the flop, and then no Ace or King on the turn or river. He was out.

32nd Kevin Kim Los Angeles, CA ($285,678)

Play slows to about six minutes per hand on the ESPN feature table, excruciatingly slow. A big problem in this tournament is the colour of the chips. The 5,000, 25,000 and 50,000 chips are all different shades of orange. It is quite ridiculous.

Peter Darvill raises to 180,000 on the button. Bill Edler re-raises to 480,000, and Darvill calls. The flop comes small, 5-3-2 rainbow. Edler moves all in for 2,100,000. Darvill thinks for several minutes, and then makes the call with a pair of 7s. Edler merely had Jack-9 with no flush potential, not even runner-runner. The turn was Ace, but then the six-outer river hit, a nine. Darvill feels sick, and is out.

31st Peter Darvil Coquitlan, Canada ($285,678)

Kenny Tran raises from late position to 175,000, but Jason Koshi moves all-in on the button for 945,000. Tran insta-calls with a pair of Aces, having Koshi’s King-7 diamonds easily beat. The board is no help and Koshi is gone.

30th Jason Koshi Los Angeles, CA ($285,678)

Scott Freeman raised from late position to 195,000, and Ron Kluber call in the small blind. Both players checked the flop which was 8-A-J with two spades. A non-spade 3 came on the turn, and Kluber pushed all-in for 2.8 million. Freeman called and showed Ace-9 to Kluber’s Jack-9. The river was no help for Kluber and he was busted.

29th Ron Kluber Aurora, IL ($285,678)

At 2:33pm the twenty-sixth level begins, with 28 men still alive. The blinds are 40,000/80,000 with an ante of 10,000. The average stack is 4.54 million.

The chip leader is Lee Childs with 11.68 million.

Paulo Loureiro limps in from middle position, Hevad “Rain” Khan calls from the small blind, William Spadea raised to 230,000 from the big blind, Loureiro moves all in for 1,750,000, Kahn folds and Spadea calls. Loureiro has the powerhouse pair of Kings, but ran into Spadea’s pair of Aces. No help from the board and it’s goodnight Mr Loureiro.

28th Paulo Loureiro New York, NY ($285,678)

At 28, there are four tables of seven players. But now that the players are down to 27, there is a redraw for the final three tables, each with nine players. The prize money now kicks up. The fans are all behind Scotty Nguyen.

At the TV table, Jeff Bryan limps in one to the right of the button for 80,000, Phillip Hilm raises from the button to 320,000. Bryan moves all-in for 1,375,000 and Hilm calls him with Ace-King. Bryan merely has Jack-10. The flop is Q-7-7, no help to either player. The turn comes 10 and Bryan hits the front. But the river comes J and giving Hilm top straight and Bryan is out.

27th Jeffrey Bryan Ft. Calhoun, NE ($333,490)

Roy Winston opens for a 380,000 raise, but Jerry Yang moves all in for 4.1 million. Winston calls with pocket Queens. Yang has Ace-King for the classic race. The flop was A-10-3 all hearts. Neither player had a heart in his hand. When the turn comes 8 of heights, Winston has a chance for a chop is the river comes hearts making the board all hearts. But it comes a blank 6 of spades and Winston is busted.

26th Roy Winston Rancho Mirage, CA ($333,490)

Daniel Alaci moves all-in with Ace-Queen, but is called by Jon Kalmar’s Ace-King. The board ran 9 high and Alaci was gone.

25th Daniel Alaci Las Vegas, NV ($333,490)

Ryan Elson and Jon Kalmar check a flop of Q-8-J rainbow, and when the Ace hit on the turn Kalmar check-called a 200,000 bet from Elson. An 8 fell on the river, Elson checked, and Kalmar bet 400,000. Elson moved all-in but Kalmar called him. Elson had 8-9 for trips, but Kalmar had King-10 for the top straight. Elson was out.

24th Ryan Elson Canton, OH ($333,490)

Bill Edler moved all-in for his last 1.9 million in late position with 9-10 and was called by Jerry Yang in the small blind, with Ace-King of spades. No help on the flop for either player, but the turn came an Ace and Edler was history.

23th Bill Edler Las Vegas, NV ($333,490)

At 5:04pm, play resumes at the twenty-seventh level with blinds of 50,000/100,000 with a 10,000 ante. The average stack is now 5.78 million.
Stefan Mattson pushed all-in from middle position and was called by Jerry Yang in the big blind. Mattson had 7-9 of clubs and Yang Ace-Jack of spades. Yang hit his spade flush on the turn and Mattsson was gone. Yang’s stack increased to around 9 million.

22nd Stefan Mattsson Sweden ($333,490)

Jason Welch moved all-in from early position for 1.55 million and was called by Steven Garfinkle. Welch’s Ace-3 unsuited was well behind Garfinkle’s pocket Jacks. The board did nothing and Welch headed to the rail.

21st Jason Welch Ft. Collins, CO ($333,490)

Mikkel Madsen had Queen-10 hearts and moved all in for 1.07 million and was called by Raymond Rahme’s pocket 9s. The board was no help and Madsen was gone.

20th Mikkel Madsen Denmark ($333,490)

Scott Freeman raised 325,000 from the small blind, John Armbrust raised to 1 million, and Freeman’s response was all-in for about 5 million. Armbrust called. It was a race, Armbrust had Ace-King and Freeman’s pocket 10s. The flop was A-K-3 and Freeman was looking down the barrel of a 2 outer. It didn’t come and he was gone.

19th Scott Freeman Oak Park, CA ($333,490)

With only 19 players there were two tables of six and one of seven, but at 18 players there was a redraw to two tables of 9. By this stage, the players had generally all met each other on various tables in the past now, and really got to know each other. The only two tables are the ESPN feature TV table and the second feature table, which is also equipped with hole card cameras.

18th John Armburst Austin, TX ($381,302)

John Armbrust raises from the big blind to 700,000, and Childs who had limped in re-raises to 1.7 million. Armbrust quickly moves all in for 5.04 million. Childs eventually calls, with Ace clubs-Queen spades. Armbrust has Ace-King of spades, a monster favourite. The flop comes J-7-2, but all clubs! The turn card is the 10 of clubs and it’s a sick exit for Armbrust.

The players take a dinner break of almost two hours, to 9pm.

At 9:03pm, play resumes at the twenty-eighth level with blinds of 60,000/120,000 with a 15,000 ante. The average stack is now 7.48 million.

The Russian Alex Kravchenko moves all-in on the button for 1.95 million. Kenny Tran called from the small blind with Ace-Queen and Kevin Farry called from the big blind with King-Queen of hearts. Kravchenko had pocket tens. The board helped no-one and Kravchenko had Farry covered.

17th Kevin Farry Manassas, VA ($381,302)

Kenny Tran in the cutoff (with a dead button) raises to 350,000, Jon Kalmar in the small blind calls him. The flop is 10-3-6 (2 clubs) and Kalmar checks. Tran bets 500,000 and Kalmar calls. The turn is 9, again Kalmar checks, Tran bets 1.3 million and Kalmar calls. The river is a 2 of clubs, making three clubs on the board. Kalmar goes all-in. Tran thinks forever and finally Kalmar calls the clock on him. With four seconds to go, Tran calls. Kalmar shows Ace-8 of clubs for the stone cold nuts. Tran is gone, and Kalmar is the new chip leader with 17 million.

16th Kenny Tran Arcadia, CA ($381,302)
Bob Slezak moves all-in from early position for 2.125 million. Raymond Rahme calls him from late positon. Rahme has pockets 7s, sickening Slezak who only has pocket 4s. The board is no help out Slezak’s long tournament is over.

15th Robert Slezak Omaha, NE ($429,114)

Tuan Lam raises from the cutoff for 500,000, and David Tran, who had limped in, moves all-in for 2.605 million. With only 12 minutes remaining at the level, the other players get up and start chatting to friends or checking out the other table. Lam continues to study Tran, who sits motionless with his sunglasses on. After a long time, Lam calls, showing Ace-King. Tran has pocket 6s, and the race is on. The flop comes with a 6. The turn and river don’t help Tran, and he busts out.

14th David Tran Elmonte, CA ($429,114)

William Spadea raises to 400,000 in middle position, and is met with John Kalmar’s 1.2 million raise in the big blind. Spadea moves all-in, Kalmar calls and has Spadea covered. Spadea has Ace-King, but was sick to see Kalmar’s pocket Aces. The flop was A-8-8 and Spadea was dead.

13th William Spadea South Easton, MA ($429,114)

At 11:22pm, play resumes at the twenty-ninth level with blinds of 80,000/160,000 with a 20,000 ante. The average stack is now 10.595 million.

Ray Henson limps from the small blind for 160,000, Scotty Nguyen raises from the big blind for 500,000. Henson re-raises to 1,175,000 and Nguyen calls. The flop comes K-6-6. Henson checks, Nguyen bets 700,000, but Henson moves all-in! Nguyen quickly calls, showing King-Queen. Henson shows a pair of 9s. The turn and river don’t help, and the chips are counted down as Nguyen’s and Henson’s stacks are very close. Nguyen has Henson covered by just 145,000 and Henson is out. Nguyen is up to about 15.5 million.

12th Ray Henson Houston, TX ($476,926)

Philip Hilm raises under the gun for 480,000, and Scotty Nguyen calls from the big blind. The flop comes Kc-7c-3s, Nguyen moves all-in and Hilm quickly calls. Nguyen shows 10-9 of spades for the flush draw, and Hilm has K-Q. The turn is 2h, the river Qs and the last remaining former World Champion in the tournament is busted. The crowd is distraught.

11th Scotty Nguyen Las Vegas, NV ($476,926)

The final ten players now redraw to move on to one table, but it is not known as the final table. One last player needs to be eliminated to get the field down to nine players, for the official final table which will play on Tuesday.

Scotty Nguyen takes the microphone and thanks all the fans in the crowd.

The ten final men sit down, all ten now at the ESPN TV feature table.

At 2:15am, play resumes at the twenty-ninth level with blinds of 100,000/200,000 with a 30,000 ante. The average stack is now 12.716 million.

Play grinds on for two hours, no-one wanting to be the final table bubble boy.

Finally, Steve Garfinkle moves all-in from middle position for 3.515 million. Raymond Rahme calls from the small blind. Garfinkle shows Ace-3, but Rahme has pocket Queens. Garfinkle needs an Ace. The flow comes K-Q-J given Rahme a set, but actually giving Garfinkle an extra out as he now needs a ten for the top straight. The turn is 6, the river 2, and Garfinkle is out.

10th Steven Garfinkle Bellingham, WA ($476,926)

Finally, at 4:20am, we have our final table:

Name	Based	Chip count
Philip Hilm	Cambridge, England	22,070,000
Tuan Lam	Mississauga, Ontario, Canada	21,315,000
Jon Kalmar	Chorleyville, Lancashire, England	20,320,000
Raymond Rahme	Johannesburg, South Africa	16,320,000
Lee Childs	Reston, VA	13,240,000
Lee Watkinson	Cheney, WA	9,925,000
Hevad Khan	Poughkeepsie, NY	9,205,000
Jerry Yang	Temecula, CA	8,459,000
Alex Kravchenko	Moscow, Russia	6,570,000

They are fighting for this prize money:

Name	Prize
Winner	$8,250,000
Runner-up	$4,840,981
3rd	$3,048,025
4th	$1,852,721
5th	$1,255,069
6th	$956,243
7th	$705,229
8th	$585,699
9th	$525,934

The final day’s play begins at 12 noon (Las Vegas time) on Tuesday 17 July 2007.

Live minute-by-minute updates of the tournament are available here:

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-55-world-championship-no-limit-holdem/

World Series of Poker Report

by Gambling Correspondent Andrew W Scott
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Wednesday 18 July 2007, 11am (Las Vegas time)

Day 7: Tuesday 17 July

Of the 6,358 starters, only the final table of 9 remained at the start of day 7, the final day. Those 9 men are:

Seat	Name	Chips		From
1	Jon Kalmar	20,320,000		Chorley, Lancashire, England
2	Lee Childs	13,240,000		Reston, VA, USA
3	Philip Hilm	22,070,000		Cambridge, England (born in Denmark)
4	Jerry Yang	8,459,000		Temecula, CA, USA (born in Laos)
5	Raymond Rahme	16,320,000		Johannesburg, South Africa
6	Tuan Lam	21,315,000		Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (born in Vietnam)
7	Alex Kravchenko	6,570,000		Moscow, Russia
8	Lee Watkinson	9,925,000		Cheney, WA, USA
9	Hevad Khan	9,205,000		Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
	Total chips:	127,424,000

Play begins at 12:18pm. It is the thirty-first level. Blinds are 120,000/240,000 and the ante is 30,000.

The first eight hands are fairly uneventful.

Hand number 9. Childs raises under the gun pre-flop but Yang re-raises. Child calls. The flop comes 7-4-2 two clubs, Childs bets 3 million and Yang goes all-in. Yang just has Childs covered. Childs folds, showing pocket queens. Yang takes down an 11.63 million pot. This sets the tone for the rest of the day, during which Yang plays very aggressively.

Hand number 14. Yang moves all-in again, on a board of A-10-8-3 two diamonds, this time against Hilm. Hilm folds, and Yang takes down another 11 million pot. Yang is now chip leader.

Hand number 15. Yang raises from late position to 1 million, Hilm calls from the small blind. The flop comes Kd-Jd-5c, Hilm checks, Yang bets 2 million, and Hilm calls. The turn is 2h, Hilm checks, Yang bets 4 million, and suddenly Hilm moves all in!! Yang thinks, then calls. He has Ad-Ks for top pair with top kicker, Hilm has 8-5 diamonds, for bottom pair and the flush draw. To survive, Hilm needs a diamond, a five or an eight – he has 13 outs in the remaining 44 cards. The river comes 6 of clubs, and the overnight chip leader is dead. Yang is up to 44.5 million, now dominating the table.

8 players left.

Hand number 21. Yang raises from the small blind to 1 million, Watkinson moves all in from the big blind. Yang asks for a count, and there is a long delay while Watkinson’s chips are sorted out. Finally it is determined that he has 9.715 million. Yang calls, and shows As-9d. Watkinson has Ac-7h, and must have felt sick. The board runs out with no help to either player. Watkinson, probably the most recognised player at the table, is out. Yang is on fire.

7 players left.

Hand number 28. Blind versus blind. Childs raises from the small blind to 720,000, but Yang goes all in from the big blind. Childs only has 4.98 million left. After a long pause, Childs calls, and shows King-Jack. Yang has only Jack-8 spades. The flop comes 6-4-4, Childs is looking good. But the turn is an 8, Yang hits the front, and the 9 on the river means Childs is out. Yang can do no wrong.

Players go on a break. Play resumes at 2:53pm, at the thirty-second level. Blinds are 150,000/300,000 with a 40,000 ante.

6 players left. Yang has half the chips on the table.

Hand number 50. Kravchenko doubles up to 5.86 million through Hevad Khan, who is down to 6.715 million.

Hand number 51. Khan wins a pot worth 5.59 million.

Hand number 52. Yang raises from middle position to 1.5 million, and Khan re-raises from the small blind to 6 million, almost all his chips (he has 3.44 million remaining). Yang calls, and Khan moves all-in in the dark as the flop of Kc-4c-2d hits. Yang calls with pockets Jacks, and Khan shows his Ace-Queen of spades. Khan needs an Ace, a Queen, or an unlikely runner-runner Jack and Ten for top straight. The turn and river are the two black threes and Khan is gone.

5 players left. They will all receive prize money of at least a million dollars.

Hand number 58. Blind versus blind. Kravchenko moves all in from the small blind for 4.39 million. Yang calls from the big blind. Kravchenko shows Ace-Ten and Yang Jack-Ten. The board helps neither and Kravchenko is up to 9.78 million.

Hand number 60. Raymond Rahme raises to 2.7 million, Jon Kalmar moves all in for 13.245 million from the big blind, and Rahme calls. Rahme shows a pair of Jacks, Kalmar has Ace-King. The board comes ten high and Kalmar is busted.

4 players left.

Players take a break, and the $5,000 chips are raced off. At 5:48pm, the thirty-third level begins, with blinds of 200,000/400,000 and a 50,000 ante.

Play slows down and tightens up considerably.

Hand number 78. Yang raises under the gun for 1.5 million. Kravchenko moves all in for 9.05 million. After a long pause, Yang calls, with King-Queen. Kravchenko has a pair of 3s. The flop comes 8-3-2, giving Kravchenko a set, and he doubles up to 18.5 million (also picking up the big blind).

The players take their dinner break at 7pm, and return to play at 8:30pm.

Hand number 92. Kravchenko limps on the button for 400,000. Yang calls from the small blind, and Tuan Lam checks his option in the big blind. The flop comes Js-10c-4d. Yang checks, Lam bets 1.5 million, Kravchenko folds, Yang raises to 4.5 million, and Lam moves all in for 10.8 million. Of course the crowd goes wild and Yang thinks for a long time. Finally, he calls. Yang shows As-10h for a pair of tens, and Lam shows Ks-Qc for the open-ended straight draw. Lam needs an Ace, King, Queen or nine. 13 outs. The turn is 4h, and it is looking like this could be the end of Tuan Lam. The river is Qd and the crowd goes wild. Lam doubles up to 23 million. It is a big moment.

Hang number 95. Kravchenko limps from the small blind for 400,000, and Yang checks in the big blind. Blind versus blind. The flop comes 8-5-4 rainbow. Both check. The turn is an Ace, making two hearts on board. Kravchenko bets 600,000. Yang raises to 2.6 million. Kravchenko stops and think for a couple of minutes, then pushes all-in for 10.35 million! Yang folds, and Kravchenko is up to 13.95 million.

At 9:31pm, the thirty-fourth level begins. Blinds are 250,000/500,000 and antes 50,000. Four players remain.

Hand number 108. Kravchenko raises to 1.4 million on the button. Yang re-raises in the small blind to 4.9 million, and Kravchenko moves all in for 13.45 million. Yang calls with Ace-10, Kravchenko shows pocket Kings. The board is no help to Yang, and Kravchenko doubles up to 27.6 million. Yang is at 47.725 million.

Hang number 129. Yang raises on the button to 2.5 million. Tuan Lam moves all in for 11.65 million. Rahme moves all-in over the top for 28.75 million, and Yang folds. Rahme has pocket Queens to Lam’s Ace-5. The flop comes A-10-10, no change on the turn or river and Lam is up to 26 million. Rahme goes down to 17.1 million.

At 11:55pm, the thirty-fifth level begins. Blinds are 300,000/600,000 and antes 75,000. Four players remain.

Play grinds down and the crowd become restless. Nothing is happening.

Hand number 149. Kravchenko raises under the gun to 1.75 million. Yang re-raises from the button to 6.25 million, but Rahme moves all-in from the big blind for 17.125 million. Kravchenko folds. Yang thinks, then calls, showing a pair of Queens. Rahme has Ace-Queen, and feels sick. The flop comes A-9-4 and Rahme’s fans go wild. No change on the turn or river, and Rahme moves up to 36.6 million. Yang drops back to 41.625, still in the lead, but not by much.

Hand number 167. Kravchenko raises from the small blind to 2.1 million, Yang pushes all-in from the big blind, and Kravchenko calls all-in for 19.825. Yang has pockets 8s, and Kravchenko Ace-King. The flop comes with an 8, and Kravchenko is busted.

3 players left: Yang, Rahme and Lam.

Hand number 169. Yang raises on the button to 2.6 million. Rahme re-raises in the big blind to 8.6 million. Yang calls. The flop comes Ad-Jh-8h. Rahme checks, Yang bets 10 million, but Rahme moves all-in for 27.35 million. Yang doesn’t like it, and goes into the tank for a very long time. Finally he calls. Rahme has pocket Kings, and Yang Ace-5. The rest of the board doesn’t help, and Rahme is out.

We are down to heads-up play. Yang has bust all bar one of the seven players out so far. Heads-up starts with Yang holding 104.45 million in chips, and Lam 23.025 million in chips, an 81/19 ratio. It is a tough ask for Lam to win it. Yang is the first person in the history of the world to hold over 100 million in tournament chips. At the beginning of the tournament there was play in green $25 chips. Now the peach coloured $25,000 chips seem like smash.

Lam plays passively, perhaps he gets atrocious cards. He folds regularly. Yang goes all-in once, but Lam folds. By the time hand 190 comes around, the start of the next level, Yang has 117.425 million to Lam’s 10.05 million.

At 3:07am, the thirty-sixth level begins. Blinds are 400,000/800,000 and antes 100,000.

Hand number 192. Lam moves all in on the button for 9.05 million, and Yang calls with Ace-10. Lam shows 4-3 diamonds. The flop comes with a 4, no improvement for Yang on the rest of the board and Lam doubles up to 18.3 million.

Hand number 205. Yang has the button and raises to 2.3 million, Lam moves all in for 22.2 million. Yang calls, showing pocket 8s. Lam shows Ace-Queen of diamonds. Yang is in front, and the crowd can smell the end. The flop comes Q-9-5 and Lam hits the front. The Canadians in the crowd go wild. If Lam can double up to about 45 million, we will have a real contest on our hands. The turn comes 7, and Yang picks up the 6 as an out with an inside straight draw as well as the 8 for a set. He goes from 2 outs to 6 outs. The river is – 6! Yang wins with a straight, and at 3:48am, we have our champion.

The final standings were:

Seat	Name	Chips		From
1	Jerry Yang	$8,250,000		Temecula, CA, USA (born in Laos)
2	Tuan Lam	$4,840,981		Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (born in Vietnam)
3	Raymond Rahme	$3,048,025		Johannesburg, South Africa
4	Alex Kravchenko	$1,852,721		Moscow, Russia
5	Jon Kalmar	$1,255,069		Chorley, Lancashire, England
6	Hevad Khan	$956,243		Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
7	Lee Childs	$705,229		Reston, VA, USA
8	Lee Watkinson	$585,699		Cheney, WA, USA
9	Philip Hilm	$525,934		Cambridge, England (born in Denmark)
	Total final table prize money::	$22,019,901

 

©2007 Andrew W Scott
May be reproduced but only if the original author is acknowledged as Andrew W Scott.

Pictures in the Amazon Room

Here are some pictures I took in the main area of the Amazon Room, during one of the breaks. Of course, during play there are players seated at all the seats. Taking the pictures during the breaks gives you some idea of the enormity of the room.

By the way between each two hour level there is a break of each 20 minutes (standard), 35 minutes or so (when racing off the chips), or 90 minutes for dinner. The pattern for day 1 is: level 1, 20 minute break, level 2, 20 minute break, level 3, 90 minute dinner break, level 4, 20 minute break, level 5, 35 minute race-off break, level 6. By then it is usually about 4am the next morning (each day having begun at 12 noon).

For those that don't know, a race-off occurs when getting rid of a low denomination of chips. In level 1, play occurs with green $25 chips, black $100 chips, blue $500 chips, yellow $1,000 chips and orange $5,000 chips. But after level 5, all bets must be in multiples of $100, so there is no need for the $25 chips. All players change their $25 chips in for black $100 chips, and then they will either have 0, 1, 2 or 3 green chips left over. A "race-off" then occurs to get rid of these last green chips so that black $100 chips then become the lowest denomination chip on the table. If you are really interested in knowing how the system works, look up "chip race-off" in Wikipedia.

Much later in the tournament, even the $100 chips will get raced-off, and even the $500 and $1,000 chips get raced off much later again.

Here is a picture of the second TV table. The lovely Evelyn Ng is sitting in seat four, with the black top.

Here are two pictures of the main ESPN TV table.

This is Nolan Dalla, Media Director of the World Series of Poker. Mr Dalla has been associated with the WSOP for many years.

Deep in the tournament:

ESPN swarm around a table:

Maria Ho sits by herself deep in the tournament, the last few tables.

And again:

The Amazon Room on the final day:

The second last table!

Spectators line up to enter the Amazon room on the final day:

And again: