In a show of genuine emotion, Ville Wahlbeck celebrated his countries first win of a WSOP event. He could not have picked a better year with the new bracelet ceremony reminding everyone of the Olympic presentation of a medal. There won’t be a dry Finnish eye in the house as their national anthem is played. Wahlbeck defeated David Chiu who will walk away with $304,176 and second place played a great tournament, but destiny was with Ville.
The final hand of the tournament was during at Omaha-8 game. Chui was holding A5910 to Wahlbeck’s AQ88. He made a pre-flop all in move and Wahlbeck made the call. Both players missed the flop of JJ5, but the turn but Chui ahead with a 10d. However, Walhbeck picked up additional outs as he could now hit a straight in addition to his Q. Of course, the river hits continued to pop and a K showed up to give Wahlbeck both the straight and a World Championship.
Event 11 finally came to a close with Anthony Harb becoming yet another first time bracelet winner. In a tournament that seemed destined for a big name player to take down, Harb put away the likes of TJ Cloutier, Tom McEvoy and Phil Hellmuth. For his efforts, he not only gets the bracelet, but an influx of $569,199 to his bank account.
The final hand of the tournament ended when Rho flopped tow pair, but waited for the turn to make his move. If he would have gone all in off the flop of 98K, we will never know, but the J that hit on the turn sealed his fate. He pushed and Harb made the instacall with a Q10 sitting in his hand. The river was a blank (for once) and Harb won the bracelet. As the tournament director tried to affix the jewelry, Harb gave the classic quote, “Look how fat my wrist it.” Well it just gained a little more in circumference with a great new bracelet.
In other tournaments…
Phil Ivey was making a legitimate attempt at his second bracelet in Event 13, but just as the break was coming he managed to get the worst of it in a huge hand and will be the short stack as play resumes. They are down to 20 players from the original 1088 person field and will play to a bracelet on Sunday. Greg Merkow now leads the field with 932,000 in chips. Daniel Negreanu has once again made it to one of the top spots of the leader board in Event 14. With only 11 players left, he is by far the best at the tables. Daniel took this event down last season and it would be absolutely incredible to see him manage to do the same again here. After a miserable 2007 WSOP, Daniel bounced back with some decent success in 2008 with 5 cashes, 2 final tables and one bracelet. He has already had two cashes (including this one) in this year’s event and if he can manage to win the bracelet here, he is poised at a run of his best WSOP ever.
Events 15 and 16 both wrapped up their first days in fine fashion. Only 165 players remain from the original field of 655 in Event 15. Calixto Clemenceau leads the way with 186,300 in chips. Event 16 has also had a very good amount of eliminations as the late starting tournament of the day. Only 97 players remain from a starting field of 359. That is rather unbelievable considering the fact that this is a Seven Card Stud Event. David Levi is at the top of the leader board with 49.600 in chips, but there are still a ton of big name players left in this one including Jason Mercier (already has a bracelet this year), Dutch Boyd, Jeff Lisaandro, Thor Hansen and Eli Elezra. The pros still have a legitimate shot at taking this one down.
Tom McEvoy may not be a household name for the new poker fans, but rest assured, he is a dominant player with an impressive history in WSOP Events. Tom won the World Championship in 1983 and has 3 other WSOP bracelets on his wrist as well. Now he can add The Binion Cup to his prestigious collection. In a competition of the poker elite, McEvoy came out on top.
The winning hand was a simply 10c9d that he turned into a straight leaving Varkonyi only one out left in the deck. If the 4c didn’t show, McEvey was walking with the hardware. He got a club, but it was the K of clubs and that was all she wrote. The cash payday for this event was a mere $1,970, but the winner also received The Binion Cup and a fully restored 1970 Corvette Stingray Convertible. More importantly, McEvoy now has the right to brag about beating every past WSOP Champion that was seated at the table.
In other tournaments…
Event #4 continued on from the field of 6012 and we are not looking at the final day of the tournament. With only 50 players left, we will hopefully have a champion of The Stimulus $1,000 NL Hold’em event early in the evening. Top prize for the event is $771,106 and play will resume at 1:00pm on Tuesday.
Event 5 wrapped up its first day by eliminating an impressive 90% of the field. Only 81 players remain from the original 809. Jason Mercier appears to be the chip leader in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event, but official counts have not yet been released.
Event 6, the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship Event, will continue on, but still has a long way to go. 142 players started the day and there are still 101 remaining. The top 16 positions will be played and Matt Glantz is the current chip leader with 100,000 in his stack. Todd Brunson and Eli Elezra are also some of the bigger names on the Day 1 leader board.
Every year poker players converge on Las Vegas to compete for World Series of Poker bracelets. As poker has become popular we have become familiar with a lot of the tops professional players in the world. Every year we expect to see guys like Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Scotty Nguyen on WSOP programming. All of those players are great and deserve all the publicity they get, but there are other great players you just don’t hear a lot about. Players who have won multiple bracelets, but aren’t as visible as the television professionals. Its time these guys get a little attention of there own for the great accomplishments at the WSOP.
Billy Baxter - Baxter has seven World Series of Poker bracelets and a lot of people don’t even know who he is. Billy is a true legend of the game, winning his first bracelet in a 1975 deuce to seven lowball event and has went on to cash 28 times so far. He won 5 of his seven titles in the 80′s , but only won 1 in the 90′s. He captured his last bracelet in 2002 and has made seven cashes since. The reason you may not be familiar with Baxter is because his wins have come in less popular games like deuce to seven lowball, Razz and Ace to Five draw. Most recently in 2008 he had a final table in event 40 and proved he is still a great player. With 7 bracelets and more then a million in WSOP earnings, Baxter deserves his spot amongst the poker greats of all time.
Layne Flack - You might know who Layne is, but I bet you don’t know that he has 6 WSOP bracelets. Flack has been on television a few times, but isn’t a regular on popular programming. He has more then $2.2 million in career World Series earnings, with 19 career cashes. He won his first title in 1999 in a pot limit holdem event for more then $220 000. His career would take off from there winning bracelets in no limit holdem, Omaha hi/lo and pot limit Omaha rebuy. In 2008 Layne won his first bracelet in 5 years and took home more then a half a million dollars. Throughout his career Flack has 6 titles and has finished in the top five, five times, he had won a couple of those tournaments he would be right up there with career bracelets. Flack is a great holdem player and I hope we get to see more of him in the future.
Berry Johnston - Berry is a main event winner and a lot of people don’t know him. In 1986 Johnston won the main event taking home the bracelet and $570 000. In total Johnston has 5 bracelets and has cashed an amazing 56 times in his career. He has won titles in limit/no limit Holdem, Omaha, Razz and in Heads up. He cashed 3 times in 2008 with his best finish being 10th in the World Championship of Omaha. With over $2 million in career earnings Johnston has definitely had a great career. Johnston is known as one of the tightest and most solid players in Texas Holdem history. The way he plays Johnston is bound to get a lot more cashes in his career and compete for more bracelets. You won’t see him on television a lot, but he definitely is one of the best players.
Tom McEvoy - Another main event winner, Tom took home the title in 1983. He has 4 bracelets in total and 36 career World Series of Poker cashes. He has career earnings of more then $1.2 million and continues to play in the series every year. McEvoy is on a big bracelet drought not winning one since 1992, but he has cashed 7 times in the last three years. 1983 was his best year when he won two events including besting Doyle Brunson at the final table of the main event. His four bracelets are in four different games Limit Holdem, No Limit Holdem, Razz and Omaha. In 2008 in finished in the top 30 twice and made more then $12 000. McEvoy is an excellent player and deserves his spot in poker history.
Chau Giang - Chau is one of the best characters in poker and I wish we could see more of him. He has 46 career cashes and has won 3 bracelets. Giang had an amazing 2008 with 8 cashes with 3 top 15 finishes. Giang is getting older, but is still an excellent poker player and can win every time he plays. His first bracelet came in 1993 and most recently won a 2004 Pot Limit Omaha event. Chau is a cash machine, finishing in the money 17 times over the past 3 World Series of Poker’s. His biggest cash was in 2006 when he finished 3rd at a Pot Limit Omaha event for almost $300 000. Career earnings of close to $1.5 million Chau is one of the most consistent and best players in the world.
These players may be lesser known pro’s, but they all deserve there place in poker history. All these guys listed have the same or more bracelets then bigger names like Mike Matusow, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harmon and Sammy Farha. The World Series of Poker has a great history and if you are a true poker fan you should educate yourself and learn about the greats of the game. The WSOP has changed a lot since the boom, now a days players have to beat thousands of players to win a bracelet. Back in the day, the fields were smaller, but they were full of professional players which made it very difficult to win. Winning a World Series of Poker bracelet is an amazing thing and winning multiple will put you in great company. Watch, play and enjoy the World Series of Poker.
