Stimulus $1,000 NL Hold’em Event has Finally Ended, Steve Sung is the Champ

Posted by pokerguru on June 4, 2009

In what was the largest field ever in a non-championship event, Steve Sung outlasted everyone else and came out on top of the 6012 person field. The tournament had been extended an extra day as the final table was reached late Tuesday Night. It turned out to be a smart move as the final table took over 9 more hours to settle the winner. Steve Sung took over the table and used his aggressive style to bully his way to a bracelet. His opponent had no chance on the last hand as his 88 only had two outs against Sung’s KK. Sung took home $771,106 as the champion and of course the distinction of winning one of the largest field WSOP Events ever.

Jason Mercier won his first WSOP bracelet in Event #5, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event. He did what he was supposed to do as the most talented player on the final table, win! With all of the other professionals coming up short, he finally took one down in a large field. In all, 809 players entered and Jason will take home $237,462 for his efforts. Jason Mercier is a young player, but you would never know it from his demeanor at the tables. Calm, cool and collected is an understatement. This is a name that we are going to hear a lot about in future.

Event #6, the World Championship 7 Card Stud event was also supposed to crown a champion by the end of the evening, but last report still had 2 people remaining. Look for the final results of this tournament in the next report. All we can really say is that Eric Drache and Freddie Ellis are still alive.

Event #7, the $1,500 NL Hold’em event wrapped up day two with only 59 players remaining. This was another huge field with 2791 players starting the tournament. There are very few big names left in this tournament and an unknown by the name of Jason Kalb is currently leading the way with 680,000. Plenty of short stacks in play here and we can expect some fast and furious eliminations when play resumes.

Event #8, the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball wrapped up play with only 7 people remaining. The one name that sticks out like a sore thumb on the leader board is Phil Ivey. While the chip leader has a better than 2:1 advantage on him, we all know his aggressive style could have him up there in a heartbeat. This is the table to watch today! Here are the rankings and chip counts for the remaining players:

1) John Monnette – 259,000
2) Raphael Zimmerman – 238,000
3) Yan Chen – 159,000
4) Elia Ahmadian – 139,900
5) Eric Kesselman – 119,400
6) Phil Ivey – 106,300
7) Rodeen Talebi – 94,500

Wednesday was a busy day as there were also 2 new tournaments starting off. Event #9, the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed event got started with a field of 1459 players. It was an absolute massacre with 1354 players going to the rail on day one. This year’s series has proven the effect that both television and the internet have had on poker. Play is aggressive and fearless. It is tough to recall so many players going out so early in tournaments. As play wrapped up, Doug Lee was leading the way with 200,000 in chips.

The last event of the day was the $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha game. 455 players entered the tournament and almost 300 of them were shown the door. Seidel’s tournament was all but ended when he flopped middle pair on an all in, but it could not hold up against a flush draw that hit on the river. He was left with a mere 125 in chips and they quickly found their way into the center of the table. Day two will resume on Thursday.

So far, this is a pretty interesting WSOP. The early going seems to be fast and furious and then they all slam on the brakes once the final two tables or so are reached. You can see a dramatic change in the way people are playing from that point forward. The pros continue to have a tough time of it, but they are starting to break through. Mercier is an up and coming young player who made his mark and Ivey is still alive on the final table. Two more tournaments get kicked off on Thursday as the craziness continues.

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Filed Under: WSOP

Tags: 7 Card Stud, Doug Lee, Elia Ahmadian, Eric Drache, Eric Kesselman, Freddie Ellis, Jason Kalb, Jason Mercier, John Monnette, NL Hold’em, Phil Ivey, Pot Limit Hold’em, Raphael Zimmerman, Seven Draw Lowball, Steve Sung, WSOP, Yan Chen

Poker junkies can get their live WSOP fix via live streaming

Posted by pokerguru on May 28, 2009

If you are like me, you constantly hit the computer to see who has the live results of the tournaments that are going on. We often have to wait hours or even the next day to find out who has made the final table and how the hands are going. For the first time, this has changed as a large portion of the final tables will now be aired live on both Bluffmagazine and ESPN360.

This is great news for poker fanatics as the wait to see the live action is often delayed until well into the summer when all of the action is over. Unless you are in Vegas, you would not have the opportunity to see the hands as they are unfolding. Now instead of reading about them, you can actually see them live.

This is so much better than actually reading about the tournament the day after it happens. What we see on television is the edited down version. It is no secret that television has changed poker forever, and this may actually get some sanity back into the game. Seeing the grind of the table and the set up of a bluff as it happens is much better for poker than showing randomly selected hands.

While all of the events may not be shown, there is a significant portion that is already scheduled. Between the two sites, it looks like close to two dozen of the tournaments are going to get air time on the internet. Included in these are some of the biggest events of the series. The $10,000 Heads-Up event on June 15th will be shown on ESPN360.com and on June 30th, the $50,000 HORSE event will air on the same site.

The highlights for BluffMagazine.com would appear to be the $2,500 Mixed Pot Limit Omaha/Hold’em tourney on June 5th, the $1,000 Ladies NL Event on June 9th and the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event on June 25th. For a complete rundown of the online schedule, you can go to either BluffMagazine.com or ESPN360.com and see all tournaments that will be aired.