Rants from the Rio -- Highs and the Lows

Check out Rants from the Rio for a weekly wrap up of all things going down at the 40th annual World Series of Poker. This is where you can find insight about the side stories, records, and general madness of the WSOP that doesn’t make it into live updates and tournament reports.

The final week of preliminary events at the 2009 World Series of Poker was one that saw some highs and lows. The week began with the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship drawing to a conclusion. The small size of the tournament field (just 95 players) had been a cause for much debate about what should be done to fix the drop in players. Daniel Negreanu advocates a return to the original format, with the final table being contested over hands of no-limit hold’em. The return of the Cadillac of poker would bring back the television cameras to this prestigious event, and influx it with a number of sponsored players getting bought in that have no business playing in such a tough field, so the argument goes. Other ideas kicked around were to make the H.O.R.S.E. world championship a mixed event, adding no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and 2-7 triple draw lowball into the fray – which also sets up the no-limit hold’em at the final table = ESPN love.

Despite all the talk about what should happen next year, the H.O.R.S.E. world championship shined with the toughest pound-for-pound field in tournament history. The final table shined as well with multiple bracelet winners Erik Seidel and Chau Giang, former world champion Huck Seed, and two red hot players from the 2009 WSOP, Vitaly Lunkin and Ville Wahlbeck, making the final eight. In the end the final table was one for the records books, taking 18 hours and 44 minutes during which 480 hands of skilled poker transpired to crown David Bach champion. Bach is a tournament veteran who has earned his dues the right way, and it was very clear that he completed a lifelong goal with the win. That joy was apparent when he grabbed his first bracelet and began to put it on. Bach paused for a moment, said, “I never wanted to touch one until I earned it,” and then continued to place it on his wrist while grinning from ear-to-ear.

Even outside of the H.O.R.S.E. event it was a week filled with highs and lows for the WSOP. The bracelet winners held some nice stories in Brandon Cantu winning his second bracelet, Abe Mosseri and Matt Hawrilenko winning their first, and most notably Greg Mueller winning his second bracelet of the summer to become the fourth double-bracelet winner of the 2009 WSOP. But other than that the cast of winners left a lot of people asking, “Who?”

Then came the start of the $10,000 main event, thousands of players filled the Rio, the usual shenanigans were on display both outside and inside of the tournament ropes, and the buzz and excitement that has made this tournament series a world-wide phenomenon was present and accounted for. The prize money generated by the 2009 main event also helped the WSOP achieve a historic milestone, taking the all-time prize money awarded at the WSOP above $1 billion.

And then came Day 1D at the 2009 main event. After a slow start on the first Friday, the usual anemic turnout on the Fourth of July, and another modest showing on Day 1C, only 3,685 players were registered and the storm that gathered speed toward day 1D hung over the Rio with impending doom. Day 1D began, promptly sold out, and then something happened for the first time in main event history players were turned away, including poker legend T.J. Cloutier.

As you can imagine players were angry, confused, and upset by the news that hundreds of them would be left out of the tournament, and then the finger pointing began. Was it the WSOP’s fault for not providing enough space to accommodate their players, or was it the player’s own fault for procrastinating until the final day. From the outside looking in the solution seems simple. Keep four day ones on the schedule for the 2010 main event, but declare the Fourth of July an off day (it is always the day with the lowest attendance). On top of that Day 1D should be reserved for players that have to travel in from out-of-state or for those that pre-register before a certain date. That ought to ensure that all of the Las Vegas procrastinators (who really have no excuse for waiting until the last moment to play) will play the early days next year and a repeat of this mess can be avoided.

Just as there are winners and losers in each WSOP event, the highs and the lows during this past week made the WSOP play the part of the victor and the defeated in a short period of time. It reminds you of the scene in Rounders, where Michael McDermott meets professor Petrovsky at a bar after he ran out on a law school meeting earlier in the day to knock some sense into Worm at the Chesterfield. “That was a nifty trick the other night,” said Petrovsky. “Of course it was an altogether different trick that disappearing act you pulled today at your group’s meeting.”

Let’s hope the WSOP has few more nifty tricks up its sleeve this summer to finish out on a high note – doesn’t it feel like this is they year where a big-name professional is going to make the final table.

WSOP Week 5: By the Bracelets

Event No. 47: Bahador Ahmadi (Score one for Iran via Canada)
Event No. 48: Brandon Cantu (Another young pro wins his 2nd bracelet, at his 2nd final table of the summer)
Event No. 49: David Bach (See above)
Event No. 50: Greg Mueller (Becomes 4th double-bracelet winner of 2009 with his 2nd limit hold’em gold)
Event No. 51: Carsten Joh (Score one for the Germans part I)
Event No. 52: Jorg Peisert (Score one for the Germans part II)
Event No. 53: David Halpern (Born and raised New Orleans amateur wins 1st bracelet)
Event No. 54: Tony Veckey (Amateur wins 1st Illinois bracelet of the summer)
Event No. 55: Abe Mosseri (Wins 1st bracelet in largest 2-7 triple draw event ever)
Event No. 56: Matt Hawrilenko (Wins 1st bracelet to end a successful ’09 WSOP that included 3 final tables)

WSOP Week 5: By the Numbers (Through event No. 56)

Total number of WSOP entrants: 54,381

Total prize money: $112,968,294

WSOP World Tracker:

U.S. – 36 bracelets
U.K. – 3 bracelets
Canada – 3 bracelets
Australia – 2 bracelets
Germany – 2 bracelets
Russia – 1 bracelet
Finland – 1 bracelet
Sweden – 1 bracelet
Mexico – 1 bracelet
Italy – 1 bracelet
Holland – 1 bracelet
Hungary – 1 bracelet
Iran – 1 bracelet

U.S. Tracker:

Nevada – 8 bracelets
California – 6 bracelets
New York – 3 bracelets
Texas – 3 bracelets
Maryland – 2 bracelets
FL, IL, PA, MI, GA, MA, NC, OH, VA, LA, KY, CT, HI, IA, MO, ME – Tied with 1 bracelet

Pros vs. Amateurs:

Pros – 39 bracelets
Semi-Pros – 7 bracelets
Amateurs – 9 bracelets