WSOP News

[jetset]

IS DAY ONE AT WSOP AN INDICATOR OF A REDUCED ENTRY?

Organisers report a 40 percent drop in first day players.

World Series of Poker organisers do not seem overly concerned that the player entries for Day 1A of the main event are down 40 percent this year at 1 300 hopefuls.

But speculation that the reduced interest may be due to the decision to exclude online poker sponsorships this year may be a little premature. Jeffrey Pollack, the WSOP commissioner says the dip may be due to other factors and that there is nothing to substantiate the Internet exclusion theory.

"This year's WSOP is the best ever," the official says. "Poker is alive and well based on the great success we've had for the entire 2007 Series. Whether we have three, six, or nine thousand players in the main event, everyone who plays will have a wonderful and thrilling experience."

Observers making projections based on Day 1A estimate that if Days 1B through 1D follow the same trend, the total main event field could be as low as 5 000 players - way down from last year's record 8 773 entrants, which included Internet sponsored seats. Registration remains open until the end of Day 1.

When the first sitting commenced Friday, there were few who had paid the $10 000 entry fee thinking about total numbers, however as George Wallace made the traditional triggering call for the event of "Shuffle up and deal."

Among some of the better known names in poker who chose to start in the first section of Day 1 were Doyle Brunson (who received an ovation from the players as he took his seat) Johnny Chan, Mike Sexton, Spiderman Tobey McGuire, Huck Seed Amarillo Slim, Michael Mizrachi, 'Everybody Loves Raymond' star Brad Garrett, Jeff Madsen, David Grey and Barry Greenstein.


ANTE UP FOR AFRICA RAISES $500 000

The stars turn out to help needy Darfur refugees

The praiseworthy initiative by Annie Duke and movie star Don Cheadle to raise funds for the Darfur refugees in the Sudanese crisis (see previous InfoPowa reports) received a boost of $500 000 following the special "Ante Up For Africa" tournament held at the World Series of Poker this week.

Entrants paid a buy-in of $5 000 each to play, and the money bubble extended to 18 players, with the main prize set at $243 893 and the 18th place paying $8 928.

Joint winners Dan Shak and Brandon Moran helped boost the charity contribution by generously giving up their winner rewards.

167 players, many of them celebrities, entered the event, with contributions earmarked for the Enough Project and the International Rescue Committee. Among those taking their seats at the tables were top poker and silver screen names like Phil Hellmuth, Jamie Gold, Joe Hachem, Ben Affleck, Jason Alexander, Hank Azaria, Matt Damon, Brad Garrett, Willie Garson, Mekhi Phifer, Adam Sandler and many others. Other luminaries included Charles Barkley, Andy Bloch, Justin Bonomo, Doyle Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Barry Greenstein, Howard Lederer, Katja Thater and Jennifer Traniello.

[Mousey]

Jeffrey Pollack, the WSOP commissioner says the dip may be due to other factors and that there is nothing to substantiate the Internet exclusion theory.

"This year's WSOP is the best ever," the official says. "Poker is alive and well based on the great success we've had for the entire 2007 Series. Whether we have three, six, or nine thousand players in the main event, everyone who plays will have a wonderful and thrilling experience."

I know I'm stubborn and often dense, but I still think the UIGEA, the DoJ freezing millions of dollars of gamblers' monies, and the WSOP refusing to take 3rd party signups (due to UIGEA), all has had a great impact. It will be interesting to see the final tally.

Associated Press Sports
Updated: 9:24 p.m. CT July 6, 2007
DAY: 1 (Officially known as Day 1A)

BIG NEWS: Only 1,287 players registered for the first of four starting days of play in the $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker main event. That put the tournament on track to enter about 5,150 players, far fewer than the 8,773 that took part last year. If the trend continued, the top prize would be about $7.6 million, less than the $12 million awarded to last year's winner, Jamie Gold.

[wangpoker]

Players line up and spend hours to register.
As far as I know this WSOP is worse than before.

[jetset]

DAY 1 B WSOP (Update)

1 545 entrants for main event heat

The main event action at the World Series of Poker continued to climb as Day 1B attracted a field of 1 545, with a possible 1 600 or more players planned for Day 1 C.

And in Day 1A (see previous InfoPowa report) a 1 287 player turnout was disappointingly lower than the previous year's 3 000 registrations when play commenced, with 837 players eliminated by the early hours of the following morning after around 16 hours of tough poker action, leaving 450 hopefuls to go through to the next round.

Tinten Olivier has the top chip stack from Day 1A on 270 500, with his nearest rival John Dutchak on 209 600. It was a hard day for many celebrities, with poker pro Barry Greenstein one of the few poker stars to finish high on the list in Day 1A. Former World Champions Bobby Baldwin and Huck Seed also survived Day 1A, but with limited chips. Television celebrity Brad Garrett of "Everybody loves Raymond" fame also survived with a $70,000 chip stack, and movie Spiderman Tobey McGuire made it through as well.

Players have the option of four starting days - 1A through 1D - on registration, and many make the choice a strategic decision, says WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "It's a combination of strategy and choice," he says.

Day 1B is now in progress and the player list includes experienced hands like former World Champions Dan Harrington, Joe Hachem, Tom McEvoy and Scotty Nguyen. Also playing are celebrities Montel Williams, Norm MacDonald, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Kathy Liebert, Paul Wasicka, Robert Mizrachi, Patrik Antonius, Tony G, Bill Chen, Sam Farha and David Williams.

[jetset]

MIKKELSEN TOPS DAY 1B AT WSOP (Update)

Five world champs, and the contest's first blind competitor in second heat

Day1B of the World Series of Poker main event in Las Vegas wound to a weary finale in the wee small hours after almost 15 hours of hard fought poker as a starting field of 1 545 players tried to survive for the next round. In a star-studded field were five former world champs (see previous InfoPowa report) and, for the first time, a blind competitor.

Those former champs - Joe Hachem, Scotty Nguyen, Tom McEvoy, Berry Johnston and Dan Harrington will all be going on to Day 2, having survived the first obstacle on their (hopeful) path to the final table and the millions that await the overall winner of the planet's biggest poker game. Other "names" that managed to stay in the hunt include motivational speaker Montel Williams, Robert Mizrachi, John Duthie, Richard Lee, Evelyn Ng, Matt Matros, David 'The Dragon' Pham, Doug Kim, Cliff Josephy and Tony G.

And of course the ultimate winner, Dag Mikkelsen all the way from Norway.

On the negative side, the eliminations included Kathy Liebert, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Justin Bonomo, Isabelle Mercier, Jeffrey Lisandro, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Paul Nobles and Kevin Saul. One of the players headed for the rail, David Singer, did not go quietly or happily following a dispute over an opponent's cellphone ringing at a crucial point in a hand. Singer's protest was overuled by floor management and his elimination stood.

Blind player Jason Holbrook finally took his seat in this event after a long drawn out debate with the WSOP organisers, where they finally relented and allowed him to play with a sighted "whisperer" at his side. Unfortunately he was eliminated in Day 1B and will not appear again in the 2007 main event.

Dag Mikkelsen ended the day with the highest chip stack on 236 000, chased by Jeff Banghart (186 200) and Albert Strickland (180 700)

The Day 1 section is now halfway through, and Day 1C has commenced on time with the unofficial count for the starting field up at just over 1 700 players. Unofficial projections on the likely total of numbers of players for this main event now hover around 6 000, substantially down from the 8 773 registered for last year's event, when Internet sponsored players were welcomed.

Early eliminations in Day 1C included two celebrity players who share their private lives, too - Phil Laak and movie actress Jennifer Tilly.

Other poker and television, sports or movie celebrities taking their seats included Seinfeld's Jason Alexander, Phil Ivey, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Mike Matusow, boxing champion Antonio Tarver, Chris Ferguson, T.J Cloutier, recording artist Nelly, Brad Daugherty, Phil Gordon, J.C. Tran, and Allen Cunningham.

[jetset]

DAY 1C ENDS AT WSOP (Update)

Over 650 players going forward to Day 2B

It was another late night for many of the 1 743 players who entered the Day 1C heat at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, which closed with 650 players still in the game and headed for Day 2 B.

Shock early departures (see previous InfoPowa report) were Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak, and they were followed to the exit by Light Heavyweight World Boxing Champion Antonio Tarver, Mike Matusow and former champ Greg Raymer during the long afternoon and evening.

These were just some of the big names that busted out - others included aces like Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Men "The Master" Nguyen, David Sklansky, Katja Thater, Shannon Elizabeth, Ted Lawson, T.J. Cloutier, Kenna James, Steve Brecher, Vanessa Rousso, Gavin Griffin and rapper Nelly.

Still going strong are Seinfeld star Jason Alexander, who battles on with the likes of Aaron Lerner, Fabrice Soulier, Toto Leonidas, Bill Gazes, Jon Friedberg, Darrell Dicken, J.C. Tran, Hasan Habib, Lee Watkinson, Todd Brunson, Allen Cunningham, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Robert Varkonyi, Steve Dannenmann, former champ Chris Moneymaker, Humberto Brenes, Phil Gordon, Amnon Filippi and Ciaran O'Leary.

Four of the five WSOP champions who started Day 1C are still in the running, Greg Raymer being the only one eliminated thus far.

Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, who has earlier entertained the crown with characteristic banter and a mock tackle on an advertiser was frank about his dismissal, smiling ruefully and saying: "I suck. You play bad and you get what you deserve.I misplayed two hands"

With time running out, play slowed to a crawl as contestants tried to stay in the game, and 10 minutes from the close there were still at least 650 survivors of Day 1C

Jeff Norman held the chip lead at the end of Day 1C on 281 300, followed closely by Tom Bernard (248 900) and Carl Olson (226 100)

[winbig]

How's Gold doing? I don't see any mention of him other than the first post...

[tennis_balls]

How's Gold doing? I don't see any mention of him other than the first post...

i wish they would make the date of this post more clear. i believe it's from today. the header says July 9 but I think that's just the tourney start date?

http://www.cardplayer.com/players/pr...d/12283?page=1

it's quite scary to see the long list of top pros knocked out today. i loved seeing that Phil Gordon (mega-donk) lost a big hand to Jason Alexander (George from Seinfeld)

[winbig]

http://poker.bodogbeat.com/

Another good place for news

[jetset]

Jamie Gold is playing in Day 1D currently underway.

Should have added that he has already been eliminated, along with Hellmuth and Viollette.