Shuffle up and deal!
The 2007 World Series of Poker kicked off this past weekend, and already history has been made.
A mere 10 days beyond his 21st birthday, baby-faced Steve Billirakis became the youngest player ever to win a WSOP bracelet when he outlasted 450 other card sharps in the megatournament's first event, the World Championship Mixed Hold 'Em. (In a mixed hold 'em tournament, the first several rounds are played with preset betting limits, the last several rounds are no-limit.)
Billirakis, whose online poker ID is "MrSmoky1," pocketed $536,287 for his winning efforts. Not a bad couple of days' work for a college kid.
The real suspense in this year's WSOP, however, will come from seeing whether any of the three legendary players tied for the record in career bracelets — Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, Johnny "the Orient Express" Chan, and Phil "Poker Brat" Hellmuth — will score a victory in one of the Series' 55 discrete events to take the all-time lead.
That, and the thrill of seeing who will emerge out of what's certain to be the largest-ever field in the WSOP Main Event to claim the title of World Champion.
For that revelation, we'll have to wait until mid-July.
As for my debut appearance in the WSOP Main Event? Maybe next year. Sigh.
A mere 10 days beyond his 21st birthday, baby-faced Steve Billirakis became the youngest player ever to win a WSOP bracelet when he outlasted 450 other card sharps in the megatournament's first event, the World Championship Mixed Hold 'Em. (In a mixed hold 'em tournament, the first several rounds are played with preset betting limits, the last several rounds are no-limit.)
Billirakis, whose online poker ID is "MrSmoky1," pocketed $536,287 for his winning efforts. Not a bad couple of days' work for a college kid.
The real suspense in this year's WSOP, however, will come from seeing whether any of the three legendary players tied for the record in career bracelets — Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, Johnny "the Orient Express" Chan, and Phil "Poker Brat" Hellmuth — will score a victory in one of the Series' 55 discrete events to take the all-time lead.
That, and the thrill of seeing who will emerge out of what's certain to be the largest-ever field in the WSOP Main Event to claim the title of World Champion.
For that revelation, we'll have to wait until mid-July.
As for my debut appearance in the WSOP Main Event? Maybe next year. Sigh.
Labels: Sports Bar, Vegas
SwanShadow was randomly pounding the keyboard at 7:55 PM
3 insisted on sticking two cents in:
I don't think anyone's really expecting the main event to break last year's record (although apparently about the only thing Harrah's may be doing right is being theoretically prepared for 10,000 entries. But then given the card fiasco and the registration lines, I wouldn't put odds on them actually being able to handle it). Due to the US anti-gambling/money transfer law passed in the last year, the WSOP isn't allowing online poker sites to directly pay satellite winners' $10,000 entry fee. Instead, they're having to give the winners the $10K and hope they use it to enter, rather than pay off their car or somesuch. Folk I tend to trust think the number's probably going to be closer to 5K than 10K (last year was a bit over 8K) entries.
Oddly enough, I'll be in Vegas for the first couple of days of the main event with a bunch of comics fan friends. Won't be playing in it, of course.
Tom: Thanks very much for the background. As an online player myself, I was certainly aware of the new legal issues relative to online poker sites, but didn't know about the potential effect on the WSOP Main Event field. I appreciate your giving me the straight skinny.
Have fun in Vegas -- wish I was going with you!
I actually did come close to playing in one of the lesser events. I placed 8th in a tournament for folk at my company (held off-campus and arranged privately) where winners got an entry fee to one of the cheap WSOP events of their choice. Alas, only the top 4 got paid, and I made the mistake of going all-in with 6s against As.
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