Just Poker Talk

• WSOP 2007 Main Event Day 1D

The Numbers You’ve All Been Waiting For

After four days of Main Event play, the official numbers are in!

Here’s the break down of the 2007 WSOP main event:

Day 1a: 1,287
Day 1b: 1,545
Day 1c: 1,743
Day 1d: 1,783

6,358 players entered the 2007 WSOP Main Event, creating a prizepool of $59,784,954. 621 places will be paid, and each player who cashes will be guaranteed at least $20,320. First place will win $8,250,000.  
Last 7 years official numbers for comparison:
2006: 8,773
2005: 5,619
2004: 2,576
2003: 839
2002: 631
2001: 613
2000: 512
Poker News provided the information above and the Payout Chart.

Because of the large field today at the Rio the ‘Poker Pavilion’ was in use again today. I just hope the air conditioning was on max high in the tent.

If you want to review Just Poker Talk posts for the 1st 3 days just click the day, Day 1A, Day 1B, Day 1C.

Just like the 1st 3 days six 2 hour rounds in 15 hours.

Day 1D Eliminations reported at Poker News.

• Round 1 Notable Eliminations.
  • Brad Booth  
• Round 2 Notable Eliminations
  • Travis Rice
  • Michael Gracz
  • Eric “Rizen” Lynch made a call that put him All-In and he showed  and the flop had provided a , the bettor showed and the turn and river did not help Eric and he went to the rail.
• Round 3 Notable Eliminations
  • Fred Goldberg was short stacked and went All-In with Gavin Smith called with and the board did not help Fred and he is out much earlier than in 2006 when he finished 10th in the Main Event.
  • Phil Hellmuth ended up playing about a Round and a half after showing up late he was eliminated with about 30 minutes to go in Round 3. He was All-In with a 400 big blind and lost when his opponent hit runner runner flush. I imagine he had some nice things to say for the ESPN camera crew following him.
  • Robert Williamson III got his money All-In when he flopped 2 pair and was called by an opponent with an open ended straight draw. The straight filled on the turn and the river did not get Robert his full house and he headed to the rail.
• Continue with Round 4, 5 and 6 eliminations on Just Poker Talk Day 1D posts. 
• Players who were seen at the Rio Playing on Day 1C reported by Poker News.

Trey Brabham, Shawn Sheikhan, Antonio Esfandiari, David Plastik, Brandon Schaefer, Everett Carlton, Mike Sica, Ernest Bennet, Cyndy Violette, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Chip Reese, Ralph Perry, Ed Moncada, Theo Jorgenson, Padraig Parkinson, Dan Nelson, Van Marcus, David Chiu, Maria Ho, Brett “Gank” Jungblut, Young Phan, “Syracuse” Chris Tsiprailidis, Alan Boston, Brad Booth, Jeff Cabanillas, Christian Grundtvig, Leif Force, Doug “Rico” Carli, Jamie Gold, Steve Zolotow, David Benyamine, Erica Schoenberg, Eric Froehlich, Devon Miller, Isaac Haxton, Joe Bartholdi, Fred Goldberg, Susie Isaacs, Martin de Knijff, Tomer Benvenisti, Maureen Feduniak, Matt Vengrin, Layne Flack, Andrew Scott, Bruno Portaro, Gavin Smith, Robert Williamson III, Erick Lindgren, Prahlad Friedman, Karina Jett, Jim Bechtel, Ted Forrest, David Chiu, John Phan, Freddy Deeb, Chip Jett, Leif Force, Michael Gracz, Eric ‘Rizen’ Lynch, Phil Hellmuth, Tommy Vu, Carlos Mortensen 

 WSOP, WSOP Main Event, Day 1D, Trey Brabham, Shawn Sheikhan, Antonio Esfandiari, David Plastik, Brandon Schaefer, Everett Carlton, Mike Sica, Ernest Bennet, Cyndy Violette, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Chip Reese, Ralph Perry, Ed Moncada, Theo Jorgenson, Padraig Parkinson, Dan Nelson, Van Marcus, David Chiu, Maria Ho, Brett “Gank” Jungblut, Young Phan, “Syracuse” Chris Tsiprailidis, Alan Boston, Brad Booth, Jeff Cabanillas, Christian Grundtvig, Leif Force, Doug “Rico” Carli, Jamie Gold, Steve Zolotow, David Benyamine, Erica Schoenberg, Eric Froehlich, Devon Miller, Isaac Haxton, Joe Bartholdi, Fred Goldberg, Susie Isaacs, Martin de Knijff, Tomer Benvenisti, Maureen Feduniak, Matt Vengrin, Layne Flack, Andrew Scott, Bruno Portaro, Gavin Smith, Robert Williamson III, Erick Lindgren, Prahlad Friedman, Karina Jett, Jim Bechtel, Ted Forrest, David Chiu, John Phan, Freddy Deeb, Chip Jett, Leif Force, Michael Gracz, Eric ‘Rizen’ Lynch, Phil Hellmuth, Tommy Vu, Carlos Mortensen,

• WSOP 2007 Main Event Day 1C

If you haven’t already done so, please take a minute and go to this earlier in the week post and select your choice to win the 2007 WSOP Main from a poll at the bottom of the post. Time is running out.

If you want to see what has happened in the 1st 3 Rounds of Day 1C go here to Just Poker Talk for the earlier action details.

Or you can just start below:

Eliminations as Reported by: Poker News

• 4th Round Notable Eliminations
  • Clonie Gowen pushed All-In with but her opponent had her dominated showing and Clonie didn’t improve and was sent to the rail.
  • Brian Nadell with Pocket Kings was eliminated by an opponent that showed pocket 9s and the flop provided a 9.
  • Rafe Furst short stacked pushed All-In from the small blind for 9,000 and was called by the big blind. Rafe flopped 2 pair but the big blind hit a set to eliminated Rafe.
  • Scott Pendergrast
  • Amir Vahedi short stacked pushed All-In with pocket 6s and was called by an opponent with JQo and when a J came on the flop Amir was sent to the rail.
• 5th Round Notable Eliminations
  • Al Krux from late position was All-In with and was called from early position by Darrell ‘Gigabet’ Dicken’s , Al didn’t improve and was eliminated.
  • Chau Giang
  • Kristy Gazes with ‘Big Slick’ was eliminated by an opponent that turned over Pocket 9s that ended up as a set of 9s.
  • Katja Thater
  • Ted Lawson had his pair of Ks bested when an opponent had a 9 high flush.
  • Joe Cassidy with ‘Big Slick’ ran up against Pocket Ladies and the board did not provide Joe any help.
• 6th Round Notable Eliminations
  • T.J. Cloutier was All-In after the flop with his and a spiked, but his opponent called with and T.J.’s Main Event was ended.
  • Kenna James when his All-In with an A10 was dominated by an opponent’s ‘Big Slick’.
  • Steve Brecher ran his ran into an opponent who turned over .
  • Vanessa Rousso when her set of 5s ran into a caller’s set of Qs.
  • Gavin Griffin went All-In with a King high flush draw but an opponent had Pocket Rockets and eliminated Gavin.

Play has ended for Day 1C 15 and 1/2 hours after beginning. Six 2 hour rounds eliminated 1,063 of the 1743 that started. 680 players move to Day 2B on Wednesday July 11th. Average chip stack is right around $51,500.

Go over to Poker News for Day 1C Chip Counts.

WSOP, WSOP Main Event, Day 1C, Clonie Gowen, Brian Nadell, Rafe Furst, Scott Pendergrast, Amir Vahedi, Al Krux, Darrell ‘Gigabet’ Dicken, Chau Giang, Kristy Gazes, Katja Thater, Ted Lawson, Joe Cassidy, T.J. Cloutier, Kenna James, Steve Brecher, Vanessa Rousso, Gavin Griffin,

• WSOP 2007 Main Event Day 1C

For the 1st time this year all 160 tables have 10 players each and in fact the ‘Poker Pavillion’ has 8 tables set up. So the Rio will end up with over 1650 for Day 1C.

If you want to review the Just Poker Talk posts click Day 1A and Day 1B.

If you haven’t already made a choice, please go make your pick to win the WSOP 2007 Main Event at the bottom of this post. Time is running out to make a selection.

Just like Day 1A and Day 1B six 2 hour rounds taking around 15 hours to complete.

Here are the Official Numbers as provided by Poker News

Official Numbers

Here’s the break down so far that the 2007 WSOP main event:

Day 1a: 1,287
Day 1b: 1,545
Day 1c: 1,743
Day 1d: ???

There are currently 4,575 entrants who have played at this point. They are expecting another 1,600+ players on the final flight scheduled on Monday. That would bring the totals past 6,000 for this year’s WSOP. It’s not as many as the record setting main event from 2006, but it’s more than 2005 when Joe Hachem won.

Here are the official number of entrants since 2000:
2006: 8,773
2005: 5,619
2004: 2,576
2003: 839
2002: 631
2001: 613
2000: 512

Day 1C Bust Outs reported over at Poker News

• Round 1 Notable Bust Outs
  • Phil Laak
  • Frank Kassela
  • Greg Raymer
  • Per Ummer
• Round 2 Notable Bust Outs
  • Shannon Elizabeth  when her pocket Ks were outdrawn by an opponents 2 pair on the flop.
• Round 3 Notable Bust Outs
  • Phil Ivey with his stack above average and a board of pushed All-In with a flush draw. An opponent called and turned over 2 pair , the turn and river did not fill Ivey’s flush and he was banished to the rail.
  • John Gale was knocked out when his Pocket 7s All-In was called by a player who showed Pocket Ladies and the board missed both. 
  • Todd Witteles with ‘Big Slick’ lost to an opponent’s Pocket Js when the board didn’t provide either and Ace or King.
  • Jogi Karamshi
  • Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow was railed when his Pocket 3s went up against a caller with Pocket Js.
  • Andy Bloch when his Pocket Ks became a set on the flop but his opponent hit the Nut Flush on the turn and Andy probably will head to the Black Jack tables.
  • Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen when his set of 6s lost to a set of 9s.
  • Scott Lazar with his very short stack pushed All-In with AJ after a 9 on the turn, his opponent called and turned over his Pocket 9s.
  • Greg Raymer
  • Jennifer Tilley pushed All-In after the flop gave her an open ended straight draw but her opponent called and displayed Pocket Rockets to end Jennifer’s Main Event.

• Continue with Round 4, 5 and 6 eliminations on Just Poker Talk Day 1C posts. 
• Players who were seen at the Rio Playing on Day 1C reported by Poker News.

Shannon Shorr, Phil Ivey, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Steve Dannenmann, Bill Gazes, Greg Raymer, Gavin Griffin, Jennifer Tilly, Rafe Furst, Rene Angelil, Josh Prager, Daniel Alaei, Ted Lawson, Kenna James, Katja Thater, Jan Von Halle, Humberto Brenes, Lee Watkinson, Jonas Flug-Entin, Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken, J.C. Tran, Phil Laak, John Gale, Ayaz Mahmood, Ciaran O’Leary, Vivek Rajkumar, Amnon Filippi, Vanessa Rousso,T.J. Cloutier, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Chis ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Brad Daugherty, Mike Matusow, Frank Kassela, Phil Gordon, Chris Bigler, Per Ummer, Chad Brown, Tex Barch, Scott Lazar, Jon Friedberg, Clonie Gowen, Kristy Gazes, Chris Moneymaker, Amir Vahedi, Andy Bloch, Toto Leonidas, Robert Varkonyi, Danny Alaei, Bernard Lee, Todd Witteles, Jogi Karamshi, Amnon Filippi, David Sklansky,

 

WSOP, WSOP Main Event, Day 1C, Shannon Shorr, Phil Ivey, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Steve Dannenmann, Bill Gazes, Greg Raymer, Gavin Griffin, Jennifer Tilly, Rafe Furst, Rene Angelil, Josh Prager, Daniel Alaei, Ted Lawson, Kenna James, Katja Thater, Jan Von Halle, Humberto Brenes, Lee Watkinson, Jonas Flug-Entin, Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken, J.C. Tran, Phil Laak, John Gale, Ayaz Mahmood, Ciaran O’Leary, Vivek Rajkumar, Amnon Filippi, Vanessa Rousso, T.J. Cloutier, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Chis ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Brad Daugherty, Mike Matusow, Frank Kassela, Phil Gordon, Chris Bigler, Per Ummer, Chad Brown, Tex Barch, Scott Lazar, Jon Friedberg,  Clonie Gowen,  Kristy Gazes, Chris Moneymaker, Amir Vahedi,  Andy Bloch, Toto Leonidas, Robert Varkonyi,  Danny Alaei, Bernard Lee, Todd Witteles,  Jogi Karamshi, Amnon Filippi, David Sklansky,   

• Tom Schneider is the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year.

Tom was eliminated in 16th Place in the final Preliminary Event in this year’s WSOP, the $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball with rebuys. He was in danger of losing the POY to Jeffrey Lisandro if Jeff could finish in the money, 7th place or better. Just a few hands later Jeff was eliminated in 14th place to secure the POY for Tom.

edit: Erik Seidel wins the 2-7 Draw Lowball winning $538,834 besting Chad Brown who receives $324,777 for 2nd place. Main Event starts at Noon Vegas time.

When I was doing some research for this post I came across:

 All-Time WSOP Player Stats

This site is full of very interesting information covering the 38 years of the WSOP. The chart provided includes Name, Bracelets, Times in the Money, WSOP Earnings and with just a click on the column heading you can sort the stats by that column.

It is quickly apparent that since the explosion of the WSOP when Chris Moneymaker won in 2003, that the top WSOP Earners are the Main Event winners and final table participants the last couple years, when over 5,600 in 2005 and close to 8,800 in 2006 entered. Only Hellmuth and Cloutier are in the top 10 and played in the WSOP before 1990.

Chan, Harrington, Deeb, ‘Jesus’, Seidel, Ivey and Brunson are in the 2nd 10. So many more In The Moneys for the most part than the top 10. ITM 

Phil Hellmuth is on top of 2 of the charts of course, Bracelets with 11 and ITM with 63.  He is currently in 6th on the WSOP Earnings all time. Guess I have to listen more closely when he once again tells all that will listen he is the greatest poker player ever.

What does all this mean?

• The money available to win now at the WSOP or a WSOP Circuit event is enormous. A direct result of initially pocket cameras getting bigger audiences to watch televised poker and 5 straight years of unknowns winning the WSOP Main Event  and of course on-line Poker. All contributed to an influx of ‘Dead Money’ into the WSOP. Everybody has a chance to with the WSOP Main Event Lottery or as the Pros say ‘Crap shoot’.
• Final table at the Main Event will probably get you in the top 20 on the WSOP Money Earners, higher if the entries go up again.
• Poker Players from ‘Back in the Day’ just were born to early to make the amounts of money available now. See Johnny Moss 9 bracelets including 3 Main Events for $824,922 compared to Jamie Gold 1 Main Event bracelet for $12,014,078.  Or:
• Doyle Brunson 10 bracelets including 2 Main Events for 2nd all time and 29 times in the money for $2, 668,332 and then see Robert Varkonyi 1 Main Event bracelet and 1 time in the money for $2,000,000.
• Players that played the WSOP before 1990 and are still playing competitively for the most part have done very well, Brunson, Cloutier, Chan, Hellmuth……. 
• Of course everything costs more now than ‘Back in the Day’ or as Grandpa Joe would say:   ‘Movies used to cost a nickel’.

So I got sidetracked with the All-Time WSOP Stats and missed an opportunity to tell you all about Tom Schneider who contributes over at Pokerati. You can still find out about Tom at Hard Boiled Poker and view the July 1st post there after Tom won his 2nd Bracelet of the 2007 WSOP.

WSOP, WSOP POY, Tom Schneider, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Moss, Johnny Chan, Chris Moneymaker, Chris Jesus Ferguson, Dan Harrington, T.J. Cloutier, Freddy Deeb, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Jeff Lisandro, Jamie Gold, Robert Varkonyi,

• Harrah’s adds additional day for Main Event

Harrah’s, owners of the WSOP, announced on Saturday they will be adding a fourth “Day 1″ to the WSOP $10,000 Main Event. source

All Preliminary WSOP Events have been completed with the exception of Event 54 $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw which will complete with a final table Thursday July 5, 2007 starting at 2pm Vegas time.

• Event 52 $1,000 No Limit Hold ’em with Re-buys

Michael Graves won the Gold Bracelet and $742,121 as reported by Poker News

• Event 53 $ 1,500 No Limit Hold ‘em Shootout 

Ram Vaswani won the Gold Bracelet and $217,438 winning a heads up duel with Andrew Ward as reported by Poker News

Record number of players have participated through the 54 preliminary events but you know that because you read my earlier post. Just in case you didn’t you can Review here. 

With the 54 Events complete the numbers seem to indicate that once again the Main Event will have a new record number of players to report when all is said and done. But, registration for the Main Event through July 3rd was at around 2,500 players reported on Pokerati so Harrah’s has a long way to go to match last years high water mark.

The number of players registered and the 1st place prize payout will be the focus of much discussion over the next few days.

• Main Event begins at 2pm Vegas time Friday July 7, 2007.

WSOP, WSOP Main Event, Harrah’s

WSOP Entries are up through 44 Events

It appears that all the worrying about the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) impact on the number of players participating in this years WSOP was much ado about nothing.

I ran across an article recently that discusses what is happening at the WSOP.

And yet, the legislation doesn’t appear to have made a dent in this year’s World Series of Poker at the Rio, which has already hosted 38,210 players competing in the first 44 events. That compares with 31,784 players over the same period last year. This year’s tournament, even before the main event, has paid out a record prize and attracted a record number of players. source

So through 44 Events a year to year increase of a little over 20%. I just saw a few of the big name players discuss on interviews from the Rio how they expect about 5,000 players this year for the Main Event.

Of course last year there were 8,773 that put up the $10,000 to enter the Main Event. I am sure you remember that Jamie Gold took the Poker world by storm and walked away with the $12,000,000 prize and Gold Bracelet.

If the numbers hold up and the Main Event has a 20% increase we will see a record number of entrants reaching over 10,000. The Rio currently has three 1st days of the Main Event scheduled with a designation of 3,000 players each day.

Schedule for the 2007 WSOP Events.

I see that Monday is an off day so if the Rio does break all the entrance records and surpass 10,000 players, I suppose they could arrange a fourth 1st day for the players to be held on Monday.

Is over 10,000 players too many though?

WSOP, WSOP Main Event, UIGEA, Jamie Gold, Rio

• WSOP Omaha Pot Limit World Championship Winner is Robert Mizrachi and winners share $768,889 

• 314 Entrants who all paid the $10,000 buy in were paired down to the Final Table of 9 

Final Table Seating and Chip Counts as provided by: Poker News

Seat 1 - Doyle Brunson - 510,000
Seat 2 - Patrik Antonius - 650,000
Seat 3 - Marco Traniello - 420,000
Seat 4 - Rene Mouritsen - 775,000
Seat 5 - Tommy Ly - 1,895,000
Seat 6 - Jonas Flug-Entin - 445,000
Seat 7 - Steve Sung - 175,000
Seat 8 - Stephen Ladowski - 360,000
Seat 9 - Robert Mizrachi - 1,090,000

Here are the Final Table payouts of the prize pool total $2,951,600

1 - $768,889
2 - $464,877
3 - $311,394
4 - $209,564
5 - $156,435
6 - $123,967
7 - $92,975
8 - $69,363
9 - $50,177

36 players finished in the money.

Your Poker bloger rooted for Doyle Brunson to secure that 11th WSOP Bracelet, but alas is was not meant to be.

• Steve Sung was eliminated in 9th place on hand #2 winning $50,1777.

Steve started the final table as the short stack and tried early to acquire some chips to compete and was eliminated by Marco Traniello’s set of Queens.

• Jonas Flug-Entin was eliminated in 8th Place on hand 13 winning $69,363.

Robert Mizrachi won the hand with trip 8s with an Ace kicker. Jonas also had trip 8s but with only a King.

• Stephen Ladowski was eliminated in 7th place on hand 28 winning $92,975.

Stephen lost to Robert Mizrachi’s set of 10s when a 10 arrived on the river.

• Doyle Brunson was eliminated in 6th place on hand 43 winning $123,967.

Doyle called a raise pre-flop that put him all in with a pair of 8s. Patrik Antonius, who had just doubled up on Doyle on the previous hand when he hit a flush on the turn, finished with two pair - 7s and 3s to eliminate Doyle.

• Marco Traniello was eliminated in 5th place on hand 59 winning $156,435.

Marco called a bet that put him all in when a K hit on the turn. Robert Mizrachi hit broadway when the K hit. Marco went out with a set of deuces.

• Tommy Ly was eliminated in 4th place on hand 73 winning $209,564 

Rene Mouritsen put in a $800,000 pot raise and Tommy calls all in. Ly ends up with only a pair of 8s on the board and Rene wins the hand with two pair - Qs and 8s.

Approximate Chip Counts

Provided by: PokerNews
Seat 2 - Patrik Antonius - 2,280,000
Seat 4 - Rene Mouritsen -1,780,000
Seat 9 - Robert Mizrachi - 2,300,000

• Patrick Antonius was eliminated in 3rd place on hand 140 winning  $311,394.

Patrick moved all in with AK and Robert Mizrachi called with pocket Aces and ended up with an Ace high flush to eliminate Patrick.

• Heads up play begins with Robert Mizrachi going against Rene Mouritsen and the winner will claim their 1st Gold Bracelet.

Updated Chip Counts Provided by PokerNews 
Robert Mizrachi - 4,510,000
Rene Mouritsen - 1,720,000

Rene Mouritsen was eliminated in 2nd place on hand 152 winning $464,877.

Rene finishes 2nd at the WSOP for the 2nd time in a week. His diamond flush draw did not come in and Robert Mizrachi had a set of nines to win the Championship and WSOP Bracelet.

Robert Mizrachi wins the WSOP Omaha Pot Limit World Championship and the 1st place prize amount of $768,889 securing his 1st WSOP Bracelet.

WSOP, Omaha, Pot Limit, Doyle Brunson, Patrik Antonius, Marco Traniello, Tommy Ly, Jonas Flug-Entin, Steve Sung, Stephen Ladowski, Robert Mizrachi,

• Long odds for a familar player to win WSOP Main Event

What we have learned over the last 5 WSOP Main Events is: That the most likely the winner will be somebody that most Poker Pros and almost all of the Poker watchers will not be familar with at the beginning of the Main Event. This becomes clear when you review the list of  winners since the 2002 WSOP Main Event.

• 2002 Robert Varkonyi - $2,000,000
• 2003 Chris Moneymaker - $2,500,000
• 2004 Grey Raymer - $5,000,000
• 2005 Joe Hachem - $7,500,000
• 2006 Jamie Gold - $12,000,000

Who knew them before they made their big entrance into the Poker World by winning the Main Event?

Most of those ‘in the Poker know’ say that the Main Event is a ‘Crap shoot’ and considering these items who could disagree?

• 8,700 players last year and even with the ban on Internet Gambling this year, limiting the on-line qualifiers, there will still probably be over 5,000 players.
• 8 days of playing during the 12 calendar days to complete the Main Event. To win the Main Event you have to get through no less than 96 hours of:
  1. Races
  2. Maniacs going All In
  3. Bad runs of cards
  4. Bad Beats
  5. Focus lapses
  6. Lack of rest
• WSOP Main Event is the ‘Super Bowl’ of Poker and the crowds and crush of Media could get players off their ‘A’ game for stretches that could cripple their hopes of surviving through the Main Event.
• Poker Pros playing at tables early in the tournament with players they have no knowledge of.
• Very long days of play as the typical day of the Main Event is no less than 12 hours.

As we get to the final days before the Main Event begins on July 6, 2007, I thought I would show the odds for some of the more well know pros to win the Main Event as written in an article by Avery Cardoza in this month’s  Click on the image to link to Avery Cardoza’s well thought out odds story.

• Unknown Internet Player 10-1
• Phil Hellmuth 250-1
• Daniel Negreanu 250-1
• T.J. Cloutier 250-1
• Chip Reese 500-1
• Johnny Chan 250-1
• ‘Jesus’ Ferguson 300-1
• Phil Ivey 250-1
• Allen Cunningham 300-1  Wait a minute as Norman Chad says ‘He is Allen Cunningham!!!’
• Jeff Madsen 400-1
• Tom McEvoy 500-1
• Doyle Brunson 300-1
• Carols Mortensen 300-1
• Dan Harrington 250-1
• Men Nguyen 300-1
• Joe Hachem 400-1
• Greg Raymer 400-1
• Michael Mizrachi 350-1
• Robert Williamson III 500-1
• Roland De Wolfe 400-1

Avery ends the article by predicting none of the pro players will make the final table and neither will his top pick among the women Annie Duke.

This is a great article and his insight into the players and his predictions are very interesting. Do yourself a service by clicking on the link above to read the entire article.

WSOP, WSOP Main Event, WSOP Bracelet, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, T.J. Cloutier, Chip Reese, Johnny Chan, Jesus Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, Tom McEvoy, Doyle Brunson, Carlos Mortensen, Dan Harrington, Men Nguyen, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Michael Mizrachi, Robert Williamson III, Roland DeWolfe, Robert Varkonyi, Chis Moneymaker, Jamie Gold, Norman Chad

•  Have you voted in the Just Poker Talk Poker Peek Poll?

If not and you want to click Poker Peek Post to read and vote: 
Or you can just vote by clicking  Poker Peek Poll 

• WSOP H.O.R.S.E nearing completion 

Day 4 of the H.O.R.S.E World Championship started with 21 players and will complete when only 8 players remain. Champion will be crowned tomorrow at the completion of Day 5. Play started at 2 pm Vegas time and by 3:45 the bubble burst when Noah Jefferson was eliminated in 17th place. All remaining players will win at least $88,800. The H.O.R.S.E Champion will pocket $2,276.832 and of course the much coveted WSOP bracelet. Earlier on Day 4 Daniel Negreanu, Patrick Pezzin, Max Pescatori and Justin Bonomo were eliminated.

Here is how the final 2 tables and chip counts look: As provided by   

Final Two Tables

Official Chip Counts

Here are the official chip counts from the break:

ESPN’s FEATURED TABLE
Seat 1 - Chris Reslock - 185,000
Seat 2 - Amnon Filippi - 2,212,000
Seat 3 - Dewey Tomko - 762,000
Seat 4 - David Singer - 1,243,000
Seat 5 - Kenny Tran - 1,857,000
Seat 6 - Steve Wolff - 726,000
Seat 8 - Barry Greenstein - 938,000

TABLE 66
Seat 1 - Bruno Fitoussi - 2,300,000
Seat 2 - Mark Gregorich - 810,000
Seat 3 - Greg Raymer - 850,000
Seat 4 - Tim Phan - 1,195,000
Seat 5 - Thor Hansen - 610,000
Seat 6 - Gabe Kaplan - 810,000  You may know him as Mr. Kotter
Seat 7 - Freddy Deeb - 1,330,000
Seat 8 - John Hanson - 75,000

 Glad to see Mr. Kotter had made it so far in the H.O.R.S.E. tournament. Think Horshack is happy? Your foolish blogger is certainly pulling for him. Too bad that Barbarino and Washington got eliminated so early!

Update at 11pm Vegas time.

Final Table is set with the elimination of Mr. Kotter in 9th place. Gabe Kaplan wins $131,424.

Here are the official chip counts for the final table As provided by

Seat 1 - Kenny Tran - 2,445,000
Seat 2 - David Singer - 1,330,000
Seat 3 - Bruno Fitoussi - 895,000
Seat 4 - John Hanson - 1,995,000
Seat 5 - Freddy Deeb - 3,500,000
Seat 6 - Thor Hansen - 40,000
Seat 7 - Amnon Filippi - 4,015,000
Seat 8 - Barry Greenstein - 750,000

Earlier eliminations leading to the final table included:

• 10th - Dewey Tomko - $131,424
• 11th - Mark Gregorich - $117,216
• 12th - Stephen Wolff - $117,216
• 13th - Tim Phan - $103,008
• 14th - Greg Raymer - $103,008
• 15th - Chris Reslock - $88,800
• 16th - Mike Matusow - $88,800

Another Just Poker Talk Poll:

WSOP, WSOP H.O.R.S.E, WSOP Main Event, WSOP Bracelet

Shana Hiatt, bloopers

On the front page of Doyle’s Room, there is a video of Mike Caro and Doyle Brunson playing a heads up match. There are two videos, one for each match. I won’t spoil how the two matches play out, except to say that it is funny in an unintentional way and that Mike Caro goes all-in with 6-4 suited in the second match. The latter alone made the videos worth watching. I could even ignore the fact that the videos were made for advertising purposes, as both players are playing online using Doyle’s Room software.

The advertising element of the video is part of why I found the match more funny than competitive and intense like real poker. But how can they take the game seriously if they only have money to gain? One things for sure, Mike Caro reminds me of those actors on infomercials, especially the one that wears the question mark suit and screams exuberantly.

Click here to watch: Doyle Brunson versus Mike Caro

Doyle’s Room, poker, Mike Caro, Doyle Brunson, heads up

I spent most of the night clearing my deposit bonus at Doyle’s Room. Once I reached 20,000 Action Points, I was expecting $100 to be credited to my account right away. Unfortunately that did not happen. I proceeded to reload the cashier tab fifty times, but nothing changed. I chatted with the poker hosts, but received no affirmation that I was guaranteed my deposit bonus. The poker hosts have a way of pretending to be helpful, but never really saying anything that can incriminate them in the future. After I ask a question they will pause for a minute or two and then they will try their best to evade a direct answer to my question.

I’m still in the process of making sure I cleared my bonus, so I don’t have time to write up a post tonight. Instead I present this short film titled Four of a Kind. This will probably one of those films that you’ll either hate or like. For me I enjoyed it for what it was. The production value is low but pretty good for a low budget film. I’m also fan of absurdism, so the poor acting didn’t bother me.

short film, poker, four of a kind, absurdism

Bill Fillmaff, chimp, humor, poker