It has been a summer full of amazing individual achievement at the World Series of Poker, with no less than four players winning multiple bracelets, and several others with five or more cashes and several deep runs. With only the Main Event to go, it’s a good time to look back and consider the top ten performances from this summer. It should be noted that the following list does not strictly mirror the points model employed by the WSOP to determine its player of the year, although many of the names on this list appear at the top of the POY list as well. Nor does the list rate players strictly according to the number of cashes a player has accumulated or total winnings earned, but rather the overall consistency of a player’s achievements at this year’s WSOP, with added weight given to those who managed to realize the goal of every poker player who enters a WSOP event by capturing the bracelet.
Both Greenstein and Negreanu came up short this summer in their quests for bracelets, but both once again ably proved themselves as belonging among poker’s elite. Greenstein’s seven cashes came in a variety of games (limit hold’em, mixed hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, seven-card stud hi-low 8-or-better, H.O.R.S.E., no-limit 2-7 draw lowball). The California resident made two final tables this year, finishing ninth in the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha event (No. 40) and fifth in the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit) event (No. 47).
Negreanu’s eight cashes also came in many different varieties of poker (limit hold’em, mixed hold’em, PLO/PLH, seven-card stud, seven-card stud hi-low 8-or-better, Omaha hi-low 8-or-better, 2-7 triple draw). Toronto’s most famous poker player managed a fourth-place finish in the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better event (No. 18) and had a near miss by finishing runner-up in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event (No. 14).
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
World Series of Poker players on 2nd day of competition
Nearly 1,500 players started the World Series of poker main event on Tuesday with a flurry of all-in bets as they worked to claim a spot in the event's third day.
While many players simply looked to get through their second sessions without being eliminated, some tried to accumulate large amounts of chips to make a deep run in the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament.
Actor Jason Alexander started the day among the chip leaders with nearly 90,000 chips, and said he gained about 20,000 more chips during the first two levels of play, but was back down to about 56,000 by the dinner break.
"I have no illusions about where I'm going to wind up in this thing," Alexander told The Associated Press. "My aggressiveness is counterbalanced by the fact that I just don't want to be stupid. And when you're a C-plus, B-minus player and you've got some chips, you can get stupid."
Alexander said he wants to make it to a third day of play, but not without a healthy amount of chips.
Players left on Tuesday were expected to combine with the players left from a session on Wednesday, when about 2,900 players will play eight hours in their second session. The fields will combine on Friday when all players will play simultaneously for the first time.
An hour later, Alexander eliminated another opponent with pocket aces, the best starting hand in poker.
"Really scary board," he said after winning the hand despite the possibility of a straight given the community cards.
Mike Sexton, who has cashed 45 times at the series and won a gold bracelet in 1989 in a stud high-low tournament, said players this early in the tournament should only be hoping to stay in the tournament and not worry about having large chip stacks.
"You can't win the tournament on Day 2 no matter how many chips you get a hold of," said Sexton, who began the day with 11,000 more chips than he started the tournament with. "Just having average chips at the end of Day 1, the end of Day 2, the end of Day 3 is perfect for me. I mean I don't think you really need to be chip leader or anywhere near it to have a fighting chance to win the tournament."
Chips have no monetary value in the tournament, and can fluctuate wildly given that players can gamble their entire chip stacks at any time.
Top prize is US$8.55 million, while 648 players will cash in the $10,000 buy-in main event.
While many players simply looked to get through their second sessions without being eliminated, some tried to accumulate large amounts of chips to make a deep run in the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournament.
Actor Jason Alexander started the day among the chip leaders with nearly 90,000 chips, and said he gained about 20,000 more chips during the first two levels of play, but was back down to about 56,000 by the dinner break.
"I have no illusions about where I'm going to wind up in this thing," Alexander told The Associated Press. "My aggressiveness is counterbalanced by the fact that I just don't want to be stupid. And when you're a C-plus, B-minus player and you've got some chips, you can get stupid."
Alexander said he wants to make it to a third day of play, but not without a healthy amount of chips.
Players left on Tuesday were expected to combine with the players left from a session on Wednesday, when about 2,900 players will play eight hours in their second session. The fields will combine on Friday when all players will play simultaneously for the first time.
An hour later, Alexander eliminated another opponent with pocket aces, the best starting hand in poker.
"Really scary board," he said after winning the hand despite the possibility of a straight given the community cards.
Mike Sexton, who has cashed 45 times at the series and won a gold bracelet in 1989 in a stud high-low tournament, said players this early in the tournament should only be hoping to stay in the tournament and not worry about having large chip stacks.
"You can't win the tournament on Day 2 no matter how many chips you get a hold of," said Sexton, who began the day with 11,000 more chips than he started the tournament with. "Just having average chips at the end of Day 1, the end of Day 2, the end of Day 3 is perfect for me. I mean I don't think you really need to be chip leader or anywhere near it to have a fighting chance to win the tournament."
Chips have no monetary value in the tournament, and can fluctuate wildly given that players can gamble their entire chip stacks at any time.
Top prize is US$8.55 million, while 648 players will cash in the $10,000 buy-in main event.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Bug,bad hands taking out poker stars in Main Event
The world series of poker Main Event ($10,000 buy-in no-limit hold-'em world championship, to use the full name) is underway, and a few top players have returned to their sickbeds, as chronicled on their Twitter feeds.
RealAnnieDuke, frustrated by a bad cold and sore throat, was able to snap a picture of the "ESPN guys standing around like vultures waiting for me to go broke," which she soon did.
RealKid (Daniel Negreanu) is complaining far more about his symptoms than his cards: "Out of the wsop and don't really care.
VanessaRousso prescribes antibiotics for Negreanu, though they don't seem to be helping her. Maybe she inadvertently bred a superbug. She plans to start play today, the last of the four days into which the WSOP splits the field until it can be whittled down to manageable size.
RealAnnieDuke, frustrated by a bad cold and sore throat, was able to snap a picture of the "ESPN guys standing around like vultures waiting for me to go broke," which she soon did.
RealKid (Daniel Negreanu) is complaining far more about his symptoms than his cards: "Out of the wsop and don't really care.
VanessaRousso prescribes antibiotics for Negreanu, though they don't seem to be helping her. Maybe she inadvertently bred a superbug. She plans to start play today, the last of the four days into which the WSOP splits the field until it can be whittled down to manageable size.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Poker:WSOP Entrants start with More chips
The main event of the World Series of poker in Las Vegas will likely last a few hours longer this year as players start the tournament with more chips.
Tournament director Jack Effel said Saturday the series added chips to players' starting stacks this year to give them more time to size up the tables and maneuver during the tournament.
"It also gives the players a little more play time in the beginning — where a lot of the average players were feeling left out, like they didn't get their money's worth," Effel said. "These first few days of the main event, it's all about survival — these guys just want to make it through the first day."
Players began this year's $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas Hold'em main event with 30,000 chips, compared with 20,000 last year.
Effel said on the tournament first day on Friday, about 300 players were eliminated from the field of 1,116, about 27 percent of the field. Half the players were eliminated the day they started play last year, he said.
More than 850 players entered the main event Saturday, when tournament officials expected the least number of players because of the Independence Day holiday.
The tournament was not on pace to match last year's numbers, when 6,844 players entered and generated a $9.15 million prize for winner Peter Eastgate.
At one point Friday, actor Jason Alexander — who played George Costanza on "Seinfeld" — was seventh in chip count.
Tournament director Jack Effel said Saturday the series added chips to players' starting stacks this year to give them more time to size up the tables and maneuver during the tournament.
"It also gives the players a little more play time in the beginning — where a lot of the average players were feeling left out, like they didn't get their money's worth," Effel said. "These first few days of the main event, it's all about survival — these guys just want to make it through the first day."
Players began this year's $10,000 buy-in, no-limit Texas Hold'em main event with 30,000 chips, compared with 20,000 last year.
Effel said on the tournament first day on Friday, about 300 players were eliminated from the field of 1,116, about 27 percent of the field. Half the players were eliminated the day they started play last year, he said.
More than 850 players entered the main event Saturday, when tournament officials expected the least number of players because of the Independence Day holiday.
The tournament was not on pace to match last year's numbers, when 6,844 players entered and generated a $9.15 million prize for winner Peter Eastgate.
At one point Friday, actor Jason Alexander — who played George Costanza on "Seinfeld" — was seventh in chip count.
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