As patriotic as America can be on the fourth of July, it's easy to forget that the World Series of Poker is one of the largest international events of the year in the poker world. As each player entered the Amazon room for day 1B of the main event, they were handed a small American flag as the national anthem was sung over the loudspeakers. Despite the obvious show of support for the United States of America, nearly 1/3 of the field's participants hailed from outside the country's borders. In fact, at this year's WSOP alone, over 100 countries have been represented, as poker continues to grow in Europe and Asia.
The small field of 1,158 was well below expectation, but those who did choose to play were decked out in their red, white and blue. Players who were sent home early at least had the good fortune of catching the fireworks displayed outside throughout the strip. Among the early casualties were Andy Black, Tuan Le, Dewey Tomko, Kenny Tran, David Levi, Ram Vaswani, Peter Feldman, Kenna James, Humberto Brenes, WSOP player of the year contender Jacobo Fernandez and former major league pitcher Orel Hershiser.
The first elimination of the day came just 15 minutes after the cards hit the air. Poker professional Stephen Ladowsky claimed the first bounty when his quad nines beat out the second nuts, kings full. $10,000 is a hefty price to pay for just 15 minutes of play, but at least Ladowsky's opponent will have a great bad beat story to tell for years to come.
Three former main event champions also made their appearance, but Tom McEvoy, Jamie Gold and Grey Raymer all had relatively short stays in the competition.
It seemed as though a set was the kiss of death for many notables. Daniel Negreanu was eliminated early when his set of sixes was bested by an opponent's set of nines. Ted Forrest made a set on the flop, only to see his opponent river a flush. Scott Fischman was all in with top set of nines against his opponent's open-ended straight-flush draw, and the river brought bad news. Steve "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer was looking good with his set of fours against pocket aces, but an ace on the river ended his tournament.
It wasn't all bad news for the pros, however, as several made their presence known and benefitted from the weak overall field. As play approached the end of the night, notables Marc Karam, Patrik Antonius and Mike "SirWatts" Watson all vaulted up the leaderboard, putting themselves in great shape for day 2 on Tuesday. Also among the roughly 615 players to survive the day were notables Erick Lindgren, Vanessa Rousso, Thor Hansen and Hoyt Corkins.
Join us at noon tomorrow as day 1C begins of the 2008 WSOP main event. Card Player will continue to bring you updates, chip counts and photos live from the floor of the Amazon room until a champion is crowned.
POSTED ON: Jul 05, 2008
Wrong, whoever wrote the headline here. It wasn't the Fourth of July that reduced the turnout for Day 1B. It was Harrah's brain trust that scheduled one of the Day 1s for the Fourth who's responsible for this, the same people who thought a 17-week gap leading up to the final table was a good idea. Harrah's input in the WSOP's growth has been its purchase of the event, its ability to house larger fields (which has led to more bracelet events), and its success in dealing with the resulting logistical challenges. They should be saluted for that and appreciated for trying something new with the ESPN-coordinated main event resolution timetable. I hope the low turnout for 1B is not because people like me are repulsed by the third-of-a-year layoff preceding the crowning of this year's champ, who btw will be champ for a total of about seven months before the WSOP starts up again. PokerStars is sending about 1900 or players this time; it will be interesting to compare (a) the number of non-PokerStars players in 2008 to the number in 2007 and (b) next year's number to this year's. That and the tv ratings will show if the 17-week thing did any good, duh. Providing the best possible tournament environment for the players will produce excellent word-of-mouth and also contribute to the industry's growth. Through all these tweaks, I hope Harrah's and all other casinos continue to improve the basics.
POSTED ON: Jul 05, 2008
good catch. fixed.
POSTED ON: Jul 05, 2008
'Winded'??