WSOP Main Event. Day 1B and Day 1C Round up

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: General, Tournaments
• Date: Jul 7,2008

This is the second official day of the World Series of Poker, and today sees more entrants than yesterday, with a grand total of 1158 entries into the competition.  It is still unclear as to just how many people will enter, but we will soon find out as the four days draw to a close.

Day 1B hosted inside the Amazon room of the Rio in Las Vegas.  In the end it came down to 615 players – surprisingly so far the competition has been remarkably vicious and numerous poker stars have already been eliminated. 

Amongst the current fold – the leading top six include
Brian Schaedlich $160,725
Robert Mizrachi $142,400
Nick Caltabiano $127,700
Liya Gerasimova $111,050
Robert Eckstut $110, 275

Being hosted on the fourth of July, we saw a large number of American flags being waved.  Every player on the field was given a miniature U.S.A flag but it has to be noted that at least a third of all players are foreign.

Sadly the number of players today was a little below expectations, but the play was still fierce and at the end of the day there was a spectacular fireworks ensemble.

Day 1C

Day 1C drew a much larger field of players than the previous few days. With 1928 entrants it is the largest so far.  Today saw a large number of poker pros in the field names including Max Pescatori, Huck Seed, T.J Cloutier, Larry Flynt, Sammy Farha, Kirk Morrison and Tony G to name a few, they were also sadly almost all eliminated by the players.  Former WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker also graduated from Day 1C alongside some other well-known’s, but today saw a large number of players survive ready and waiting for Day 2.

In total – there are now 1,026 players that survived Day 1C currently ready for the next stage of the competition.

Good luck, you’ll all need it!

Good Luck!

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: News, Tournaments
• Date: Jul 3,2008

Today sees the opening of the 39th W SOP main event. We’ve finally reached the start of this grand event and with more than 1300 people competing, it looks sure to be a good one.

Speaking to a few attendees – the general feeling is as you would expect; excitement! but for a lot of people, they know they won’t be leaving with profit.

If you’ve never been to sin city ( Las Vegas ) to experience the WSOP event, you have missed a treat. Sure it is expensive at over $10,000 dollars a seat; but if you can afford that much your game must be worth it!

So what exactly does $10,000 buy you? for this competition, 20,000 chips and a chair. For some, this is not a lot but for others; this will be enough to reach the jackpot. Last year this was a staggering $8.25 million dollars won ironically by a Californian psychologist.

It is estimated that only 10% of the players in this competition will actually win any money. So is it worth it?

“For one of the worlds greatest poker experiences, this has to be a one in a life time opportunity. It doesn’t get better than this, if you can play here – you are the best in the world” – Anonymous guy

That is what the general feeling is here, and the look on peoples faces is of steely determination and the desire to win.

If you are just about to sit down to a poker game at the World Series, We wish you all the very best of luck.

We would also love to hear from you and to perform an interview if you are willing.

Once again, GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!

WSOP Day 22

• Author: Ed
• Filed under: Tournaments
• Date: Jun 21,2008

It’s now day 22 of the WSOP and today Texas Hold’em is not at the forefront of the WSOP surprisingly, but today the popular games are Omaha, and 7 Card Stud.

Texas Hold’em has been dominating the WSOP in recent days, with the no-limit Hold’em being played frantically yesterday.

So today – to take a break from the all too popular, we’ll take a quick look at Omaha, and see how it differs.

Omaha – being very similar to Texas Hold’em is known as a flop game.  There are a number of variations; however the most popular is Omaha High. 

Unlike Hold’em, Omaha players are dealt four cards to their hand not two.  After this, the betting is identical and the winner is the player who can produce the best five-card hand with THREE of the table cards, and TWO of his own.  This is possibly the largest difference, as it makes the game somewhat more calculated and clever than Hold’em, with even professionals needing a longer amount of time to calculate their move.

So that’s Omaha – now let’s take a quick look at 7 card stud. Seven card stud used to be the big name in poker before Texas Hold’em became the popular game it is today. However many people come to poker knowing only Hold’em. So – briefly

Betting is clockwise – and the person with the highest hand starts.
Two cards are dealt face down, one card is dealt face up to each player.

Following this – four cards are dealt face up, and one card is dealt face down.

After the cards are dealt, we reach the showdown.

Later on we’ll go into a little more detail about Omaha, Hold’em and the other forms of poker. Stay tuned for more information, reviews and tips.

WSOP Continued…

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

Right now we’re almost halfway through the World Series of Poker, and rightfully so, half of the golden bracelets have been given away. Just out of general interest today, I checked the ticker on the website to find out that there has been a grand total of $65,806.684 prize money already.

The World Series is a tournament for legends. Many come but few are successful. I’ve been an online poker player for a long time, and it’s helped me develop a strong game and I’m almost dare i say – semi professional. But to take my games to the next level, I need to think about Vegas, or as I call it, the city of Gold…

So – what exactly are WSOP gold bracelets? Each year, there are a total of 54 bracelets made, and they are made from solid 18-carat gold. Crafted by the exclusive international watchmaker Corum, the bracelets are painstakingly produced in yellow gold for the regular events, and precious white gold is used for the main event. They are also finely decorated with diamonds, garnets and other precious stones and every stone is hand-set into the bracelets. With each one featuring approximately 53 diamonds, which represent the number of events in the WSOP, which bring the grand total of gems used in each bracelet to a staggering 3,000 (give or take a few hundred).

We have seen a couple of bracelets over the years, and the new ones are strikingly distinct. However we think now the old ones are very precious and one cannot even put a price on such a valuable artifact.

Online poker has its place, and so does offline poker but I would like to compete in the WSOP for a coveted gold bracelet. This is truly one prestige item that shows your worth in the poker industry.

Maybe one day……

WSOP 2008

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

Today there’s a little to be learned about the World Series of Poker. right now its making its show on ESPN, and we thought that you might like to know a little about the popular gambling event. It’s not an online based tournament, but to develop a firm and solid play style it is important to analyse all forms of play to make your game stronger. Because of this we like to take a look at all the events happening in poker, not just online poker and we aim to write about interesting things. So to start off – we’re going to do a little informative piece about what the WSOP really is and how they were formed.

The World Series of Poker started a long time ago, back in 1970 when Las Vegas was a small and innocent city. Back then there were maybe 70 poker tables in the whole state, never mind city of Las Vegas! Back then in a stuffy hotel room is where it all began. Back then it was run by a few casino owners who soon became legends – Benny Binion, Tom Moore and Vic Vickrey.

What a memorable way to start the World Series. This first championship featured maybe 30 people. Some names included Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, Rudy “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone as well as Benny Binion.

This was actually just meant to be an ‘annual’ get together, but as fate may have it, Binion decided that this was an opportunity not to miss. So he set out on his own to market the ‘get-together’ into the World Series of Poker.

It’s quite ironic that what seemed like an annual get together would turn into the World Series of Poker! Had it not been for a few small-time pros (Tom Moore and Vic Vickrey) there mightn’t have ever been a World Series! So next time you are watching ESPN and your favourite sport (Poker) Pay a little tribute to the small time guys who invented the big-time competition.