WSOP – It’s almost over Roundup Day 7

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: Tournaments
• Date: Jul 19,2008

It’s all eerily quiet in Las Vegas as the World Series of poker 2008 almost draws to a close.  Today saw the final day being played until the grand finale which will be played in November.  From 6,844 down to 27 we are finally ready to find out who will be playing for the $9 million dollars.

We’ve seen all our celebrities die out.  We’ve seen many brave warriors fight until the last breath, but succumb to younger, older, better and worse players.  The truth is it’s done.  It’s almost decided and for those that didn’t make the cut – you have still been a part of poker history just like every other WSOP tournament entrant – you’ve played your role and you should be proud.  You can tell your friends I’ve been there, and maybe if you’re lucky you even have a bracelet.  For many you are already in the annals of poker fame and for us we tip our hats and congratulate you all for a very brave and fearless battle.

But meanwhile, the fight continues.  Today is day 7 and there is one last showdown. 27 will enter, and 9 will survive.  So what happened and who survived?  This year there remains maybe one poker celebrity still in the fold.  The majority of players are relatively unknown although highly successful.  They are both old and young, and come from all walks of life.  This year the table will see many American faces, as five Americans managed to survive.  Everyone that managed to survive today’s competition will continue on to the main event in approximately 117 days on the 9th November 2008.

Dennis Phillips 26,295,000
Ivan Demidov 24,400,000
Scott Montgomery 19,690,000
Peter Eastgate 18,375,000
Ylon Schwartz 12,525,000
Darus Suharto 12,520,000
David Rheem 10,230,000
Craig Marquis 10,210,000
Kelly Kim 2,620,000

Congratulations.  You’ve earned a three-month vacation.  I think you definitely need it!

WSOP Day 5 & 6

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: Tournaments
• Date: Jul 17,2008

Following on from Day four, day five sees 189 players enter the game ready to see who will be the next WSOP poker champion.  Popular players remaining in the contest include Allen Cunningham and Phil Hellmuth to name a few. 

Players started today with a rough average of 760,000 chips and today saw Phil Hellmuth survive ready for day six.  At the end of the day only 79 players managed to survive, and all will claim prize money. 

Today’s top players include

Mark Ketteringham 5,800,000 chips
Jeremy Joseph – 3,100,000 chips
Nikolay Losev 4,058,000
everyone who entered the contest today was guaranteed a minimum of $38,600 dollars in prize money.  The loser fund is significantly rising, so no one will go away empty handed.  Tomorrow this figure will rise to approximately $77,200.
Today saw three female players eliminated, and it looks like two will survive on over until day six.  Tiffany Michelle and Lisa Parsons are carrying on into day six.  We wish them the best of luck and hope to see them at the final table.

WSOP Day 6

Today’s entrants are down to 79 and this is the last day until the main event.  Undoubtedly day 6 is to be the fiercest yet, and today will see a large number of players drop out and go home with at least some amount of winnings.

ESPN as usual are selecting ‘feature’ tables, and today every table is being filmed for the chance to air it on television later.  If you’re playing today -chances are you’ve already been featured on TV. If not – you may very well be today. 

Today finally saw Phil Hellmuth eliminated, and we are very pleased.  You can maybe tell we aren’t a big fan, but he finished in 45th place which is a great achievement, and it does prove us wrong.  He is a good poker player.  Last year however, he took 27th place so maybe this is a decline for the poker-pro?

Surviving players today are 27, and today saw both Mark Ketteringham and Jeremy Joseph eliminated.  Today’s leader is now Dennis Phillips and now has a staggering 11,910,000 chips.  Second place falls to Craig Marquis with 11,460,000 chips.  Of our female players from yesterday, Lisa Parsons was eliminated in 79th place, and Tiffany Michelle currently survives with over 9,755,000 chips. 

WSOP Day 3 & 4

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: Tournaments
• Date: Jul 15,2008

Day 3

The WSOP continues to be fiercely fought and it is still unclear what will happen, but one thing is for sure.  Many players will succumb to the contest and drop out.  Now we are into Day 3 everything just gets fiercer and fiercer, and it seems like the numbers are dropping considerably.

This is day 42 of 47 days total and today sees 1308 players enter the fold.  Remarkably, of those 1308 players, a great many were from different countries.  This is a major increase over last year – and it can prove only one thing: the popularity of online poker.

666 is the number of people who will take home prize money.  This means 642 players will not take any winnings home today and leave empty handed until next year.

But how did they perform?  Of them all Chris Moneymaker lost his form and was seen exiting after just 6 minutes of play.  For the former champion, this must be a real disappointment but for many others I’m sure it is a relief.

Today was a fierce brawl for many poker players, and the remaining field is only 474.  This is down from 6844 entrants and just goes to show how fierce this tournament is.

Day 4.

Today sees the 474 players from yesterday compete for the grand prize.  Starting nice and late to give our fierce warriors a rest after yesterday’s very gruelling and tiring day, today seems set to be a little bit easier in terms of number of players, but far more intense because we are now getting down to the final few.  Prize money is in and anyone that goes home at this stage will be leaving with at least $21,000 dollars.  Which is not bad for a $10,000 buy-in?

However, we know one lucky person will collect over $9 million in prize money.  The question is: who will it be?

Today’s most popular players are the infamous Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan.  After maybe two hours into the game, the former champion succumbed to a bad beat.  This will be his fifth "cash-in" at the main event, and his first finish in which he didn’t reach the final table. 

40% of the field survived, and 189 players will continue to tomorrow.

Today’s leader is Jeremy Joseph – 23 years old and currently holding over 2.1 million chips
Second and third place are held by Nikolay Losev and Cristian Draogmir respectively.