Evolution of poker rambling on the WSoP
I’ll start by throwing out my thoughts on the WSoP. This event is the perfect micronism of what’s happening to poker on the macro level. Internet poker players are doing well in live tournaments for several reasons.
First, quantity, if you throw enough ammo at the target, then no matter how bad a shot you are; odds are at least one is going to hit, Moneymaker's 2003 WSoP win is a good example.
Second, some of the Internet players are very high caliber players with a “students of the game” philosophy. Reading everything in sight, posting on RGP (rec.gaming.poker) and popular poker message boards. Fossilman is this type of player with hundreds of posts on RPG and almost 2000 posts on the popular twoplustwo forums.
Third, some of the advantages in and of live poker are drastically dampened in tournament play because of the limited time player are in contact with each-other. I am referring to tells, of course; and unless the player is horrendously bad and obvious (which I admit more then a few are), tells won’t be a major factor of the game.
With a third of the entries coming from on-line for the 2567 seats the influx of players that have never touched casino felt, stared down an opponent in live action or had a slew of tasty alcoholic beverages delivered by a scantly clad cocktail waitress. Several times I heard players at the World Series of Poker ask “How much?” the answer, “Whatever you want to pay.” In Vegas the drinks are on the house, and this house was packed!
Too little space to accomadate the massive event was the biggest single problem, the Fire Marshall was on the scene the first day of the WSoP and had planned to shut the event down but, “I couldn’t get inside the building”. The next day he did get inside and imposed his will, severly limited access for the remainder of the main event, even for media types. Nothing beats seeing a holier then thou representative from a big media company being evicted from the scene, perhaps next time these last minute leeches will be a little more polite and have the wisdom to show courtesy rather then contempt for the overworked event staff. Remember that by the time the final event is played most of these people have been working more than thirty days straight. (Continuing courtesy throughout the event is the coin that bought our last minute shots).
If Raymer decides to play the tournament circuit I think his name will pop up on money lists far more often than last year's Moneymaker. Other signs the geeks are taking over? One of the finalist is a Magic: The Gathering tournament champion (and continues playing Magic). Four players, including first and second place, came in from Internet Casino Tournaments. I don’t think the current generation of champions will be out-matched by the Internet champs; however, I am sure some of the new breed will join their ranks as masters of poker. I also don’t believe the internet players (even the great tournament players) would do well in a long term ring game with the great tradiditonal players. Dolly Brunson and Chip Reese can eat even great tournament players alive.
As I mentioned at the start, poker is evolving, the great players of yesterday are slowly fading away, the current generation of champions are, by and large, active in the on-line community and the on-line community will give rise to many of tomorrow's tournament champions. Ten years down the road I foresee true VR rooms, millions of players, with great players being churned out by the hundreds and a steady stream of dead-money fish churned out by the millions.
The future of the poker industry has never been brighter. Television has raised the game from the smokey back rooms frequented by unsavory characters to prime time family entertainment with emerging young stars becoming household names hounded by autograph seekers. The TV money is making today's Tournamanet Poker a legitimate spectator sport with prize money that was unimaginable a few short years ago. We will end with a famous quote from the most influential individual and Godfather of tournament poker, Benny Binion. When asked what makes a great poker player he replied with one word, "Money!"
Greg said the glasses not only hid his eyes but made it difficult for the other players to stare him down since looking at a man with reptillian eyes is really disconcerting.
this year's championship event was Rose Richie's 98th place finish. Rose is a 48 year old amateur Internet player from St. Petersburg, Florida and won her seat plus travel expenses in an online tournament at the Royal Vegas Casino. Rose is a breast cancer survivor and has lupus, a chronic disease that causes severe pain. She collected $20,000 for her top one hundred finish. This was the last WSOP to be held in it's entirety at the historic Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas. Current plans call for the 2005 WSOP to be played at the Rio here in Las Vegas with only the final table of the championship event taking place at the downtown Horseshoe. I had a great deal of fun documenting this year's World Series of Poker and want to thank Nolan Dalla, Matt Savage, Jim Miller, Mike Page, the security team, especially the media accommodating players and all of the helpful WSOP employees from Harrah's Entertainment. We are already planning our coverage of next year's event including some innovative, never before used technology. See all of you next May at the 2005 WSOP. Until then we will continue offering daily poker info, las Vegas poker room reviews, Las Vegas stories and whatever else comes to mind.
Well the big topic in the world of poker blogs this week is Ace-Queen off suit. Pauly has an excellent post on his experience with this trouble hand at 
Josh Arieh, out in third.
Al Krux went all-in against Greg "the Fossilman" Raymer. Fossilman's Ace-Queen held up against Krux's Ace-9, with the board showing Ace-King-5-7-3. 
Marcel Luske who went all-in for 900,000 with pocket 4s, former World Series of Poker champion Harrington called with a A-J. The board came up Queen-8-6 4th street brought a Jack and the River an 8. Harringtons paired Jacks and takes out Marcel in the 10th spot. He leaves with a mere $373,000. 
Inconceivable! Inconceivable! 
The 5th day of the World Series of Poker began with a twenty-one year old as the new chip leader. John Murphy started today with $765,000 in chips, slightly ahead of Josh Arieh $754,000. Marcel Luske of Amsterdam, Holland begins the day with $613,000 and remains in the action sporting his trademark upside down sunglasses. Poker master, Doyle Brunson, continues to hang tough after going all-in with big slick which held up and he doubled up. Sixty players remained in the tournament at 4:00 pm this afternoon with the $1000 ante and $4,000-8,000 blinds rapidly taking down the short stacks. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was seated at the Television Table and continues to add to his stack. Devilfish went out in 72nd place this afternoon. 
While I'm about it, I've been meaning to drop a link to some very cool cats with 
Now for some tournament news and player views. Today’s chip leader at the start of play was Abe Masseri with $335,300, followed by Eduard Scharf with $311,600 and Chuck Agnew at $302,500. Conversely, the smallest stack seated today was $8,600 held by player, David Keiser. Doyle Brunson remains a force with $133,300, Chris Ferguson began with $127,000, and Gus Hansen had $123,100. Local favorite Mike Matusow was in with $61,300. Sal Iacono, Cousin Sal from the “Jimmy Kimmel Show,” was eliminated late yesterday so is out of the tournament.
Also of note, 
Day #3 of the World Championship of the World Series of poker roars along at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. Seven hundred players remained at 3:30pm today with many well known pros continuing their quest to win the record $4.5 million first place money. We watched Gus Hanson pull in a nice pot after realizing his less experienced opponent was bluffing and he came over the top. Tom McEvoy was in the bullpen struggling with a short stack while the poker master, Doyle Brunson, was giving lessons at the main table in the television pit. Bobby Baldwin was seated at a table in the main room on the first floor with a large collection of chips and 1972 WSOP champion, Amarillo Slim, had accumulated his own respectable stack of chips. Mike Matusow had doubled his twenty thousand in chips to about forty thousand and was playing tough. Chris Ferguson appears to be making a serious run for his second WSOP Championship bracelet considering the very large stacks of chips he has accumulated. 
Yesterday’s chip leader, Mike Lang, had run into some bad luck and his massive stacks of chips were rapidly evaporating. We will report more of today’s action later this evening and continue to offer additional photos of all the activities and excitement of the 2004 WSOP. 
The second “1st day” group of 1300 players begin play today at the Horseshoe, the downtown Las Vegas home of the 2004 World Series of Poker final event. The crowds of spectators are jamming the casino hoping to get a look at their favorite player. The tournament is occupying every available square foot of space with tables at the front entrance, the old sports book pit, the poker room and Benny’s Bullpen upstairs. A walk through of the tables revealed many familiar faces and some legends of the game. A number of former WSOP world champions including Tom McEvoy, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and “Amarillo Slim” Preston remained in the action this afternoon. The play today will continue until approximately half of the entrants are eliminated. This group of 650 will join the 650 players remaining from yesterday’s event when the action resumes tomorrow.
The game has moved from the smoke filled back rooms to legitimate prime time television fare. Tournament poker players are not only respected for their skills but have been elevated to the ranks of super stardom enjoying all the attention and awe typically reserved for movie stars. I have been a spectator, player and reporter of the World Series of Poker for more than twenty years and know first hand the incredible rise in the popularity of the sport. The atmosphere at the Horseshoe is supercharged with excitement. The press corps covering the tournament this year comes from all over the globe with interviews of players being conducted in a wide variety of languages. Those of us that have been closely associated with the poker industry through the years are most thankful for the interest and involvement of all the new, young players that are recreating the game and making poker a respectable sporting event. I personally believe none of this would be taking place if it were not for the table cam, that small TV camera that lets the audience see the player’s hole cards. I am not sure who originated the table cam but have heard it may have been Lyle Berman.
The event is crowding the upper and lower levels of the casino with players, media, staff and spectators. The crowds are so heavy that security is limiting entrance to players and media only for this day. The World Series of Poker Championship event #33 group #1 played the first day, Saturday, and resulted in some surprising eliminations. Gone from the competition is WPT commentator Mike Sexton (the first player to register for the $10,000 event), Daniel Negreanu, Men “the Master” Nguyen and 2003 WSOP defending Champion Chris Moneymaker (okay, not all were surprises). Many of the heavyweights will be going into the “second” day of play Monday with short stacks. Phil Hellmuth Jr with nine previous WSOP wins goes in with approximately $38,000 in chips and Doyle Brunson, another player with nine bracelets, finished the day with just over $17,000 in chips. Today is the “First Day” for the second group of approximately 1300 players. Yesterday’s group gets today off. The remaining players from both groups will combine when play is resumed on Monday.
We will provide photos and action details from the floor of the WSOP tournament at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas.
Have some aspect of the WSOP you would like to see us cover? We cannot guarantee we will be able to respond to all the request but we will certainly try so 
The World Series of Poker charity media event seated about 150 members of the working press in a No-Limit Hold’em tournament playing for a $10,000 donation to your favorite charity. The event was preceded by a press conference run by WSOP tournament media director, Nolan Dalla, and attended by Las Vegas Mayor, Oscar Goodman, and 2003 WSOP Champion, Chris Moneymaker. A question and answer period following the formal introductions revealed no new information other than Chris Moneymaker is not really a book person and has never read a poker themed book. Although a number of questions were related to on-line poker they were mostly met with “no comment.” Guess the unofficial poker fiefdom spokespersons would rather not comment on one, television being the other, of the two primary reasons that the game has finally achieved legitimacy, phenomenal popularity and instant household celebrities. I have been closely associated with the Las Vegas poker industry so long that I can remember playing with Chan in the $1-3, 6-card stud game at the Circus Circus poker room; so I am qualified to speak about the current rapid rise in the popularity of poker. I am aware that online gambling is not legal within the US but the online poker clubs are not located within the US so when I decide to play in the virtual online world my avatar then exists at the poker table in the country of casino origin. Right? So, come on people, let’s give credit where credit is due. If not for online casinos and television the World Series of Poker would continue to be played in a tent under the valet parking veranda by a group of old dudes that no one outside the industry knows.
As I walked through the room I spotted Amarillo Slim Preston playing in the Super Satellite and remembered that it was this colorful Texan that brought the world’s attention to high-limit tournament play after he won the 3rd WSOP main event in 1972. Amarillo hit the talk show circuit with his poker exploits and natural story telling ability and entertained and educated us about America’s favorite pastime, Poker. This early PR set the WSOP on a growth curve that appears to have No-Limit. Due to people like Amarillo Slim, Puggy Pearson, ‘Treetop’ Jack Strauss, Stu ‘the Kid’ Ungar, ‘Dolly’ Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Bobby Baldwin, Jack Keller, Phil Hellmuth Jr, Dr. Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, ‘Sailor’ Roberts, Johnny Moss, Huck Seed, Berry Johnston, Bill Smith and the first player to win his seat in a satellite and then win the event, Tom McEvoy. Thank you Amarillo and thanks to all the poker greats that have made this event the spectacle we are enjoying today. I will continue to prowl this year’s main event and post up all the action complete with photos. 
First there was a press conference with the Honorable(?) Mayor of the city, Oscar Goodman, WSOP Champion Chris “Money Maker” Moneymaker, the two tournament media directors, Nolen (the PR director), and the President of West Coast Operations of Harrah’s, Tom. Most of the info from the conference was on the WSOP's 35th year, which is now the largest event in the history of poker. Tournamet officials are predicting 2100 for the main event with 200+ alternates. Top prize will be at least $4.25 million and it will pay at least 180 places! Wow! A few questions were asked of the tournament directors such as “Will the tournament be extended and will more events be added?” Both directors said “probably not” while their expressions said “No, Hell No, when hell freezes over no!” When asked “What are your thoughts on the entries won on on-line poker?” they responded with “We Don’t know anything about that.” Next the questions were directed to 2003 WSOP winner “Money Maker”. When asked what poker books he recommends he responded “I don’t read poker book,” “what his thoughts about on-line poker and the legalities surrounding it?” He responded “No Comment.” Jesus! Come On people, poker is where it is because of two things, television and On-line poker! At least a nod in the direction of this booming industry that has made the WSOP what it is (estimated 600-800 entries coming from on-line) would have been nice. It’s okay for everyone and their dog to sport shirts, caps, handbags, underwear, and wigs advertising the on-line poker sites (so far I’ve counted 30+ pokerstars shirts alone) but God forbid we actually SAY anything about these sites that pay three to ten large for a shirt at a final table. “Money maker” was finally asked by the Mayor how he felt about the Strip and the Horseshoe, he responded, “It’s fantastic”. 
Next the mayor presented the President of Harrah’s West Coast Operations a key to the city! Hmm… two tournament directors who have worked their ever loving asses off for 32 days straight get a nod and handshake while Mr. President gets a key *sighs*.
The World Series of Poker event #31, $5000 Omaha with Rebuys, has ended with Ted Lawson of Fort Lauderdale, Florida beating Lee Watkinson of Cheney, Washington for his first WSOP bracelet and $500,000 in first place prize money. Lee collected $270,000 for his second place finish. 
Freddy Deeb of Las Vegas completed the top three and takes home $147,800 for third. The event attracted a field of 145 players and had a total prize pool of $1,499,800.
Howard Lederer of Las Vegas was 6th and won $75,000, Daniel Negreanu was out in the 8th spot with $45,000 and Chris Moneymaker, 2003 WSOP World Champion, collected $21,000 for his tenth place finish.
World Series of Poker event #30, $3000 No-Limit Hold’em, finally ended this afternoon. The longest event in WSOP history concluded about 3:30 today after being called at 3:45 this morning with three players remaining in the action. Play resumed this afternoon at 2:00 pm and finally got to the final hand about 3:30 when Mike Sica of North Brunswick, New Jersey went all-in with a K-Qo and was called by John Kabbaj of London, England holding a K-9o. 
Mike’s K-Q took the hand and he became $500,160 richer and received the coveted gold WSOP bracelet. John takes $260,520 second place money back to England and one of his countryman, Ram Vaswani of Hendon England, finished in the third spot to win $143,740. This is the first time in WSOP history that a two day event ran into three days. The event attracted a field of 651 players paying $3000 entry money to have a shot at some of the prize pool of $1,796,760.
Paul Williams of Las Vegas, the final table chip leader, finished 6th and collected $89,840 for his efforts. Crowd favorite, Mickey Mills of Ocean Beach California, wearing his icon Mickey Mouse shirt collected $71,860 for his 7th finish. The event attracted a large crowd of spectators that lined the railing to see the action. Every time Mickey Mills won a hand his group of supporters would sang the Mickey Mouse Club theme.
Only two scheduled events remain before the $10,000 Championship begins on Saturday. $5000 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys is in the second day and should conclude later this evening. A one day event, A-5 Draw Lowball, is being played today. The action tomorrow is the 4 Super Satellites and the Media Only Charity tournament At 6:00 pm. We will be playing in the media event for our favorite charity, Ubrita Elementary School in San Bernardino, California
and if we're in the text of the blog the little tip of the hat 
(or tack, depending on how you look at it and how much you've had to drink) will show up. If one of these critters should be showing up and doesn't please e-mail me. I'd like to get all the bugs worked out. Comments, feedback and suggestions are very welcome.
The 29th event, $5000 Limit Hold’em, of the 2004 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas ended early this morning after a marathon final table session. John Henningan of Philadelphia beat An Tran of Las Vegas to take the first place prize of $325,360. An collected $170,200 for his second place finish. 
The only female at the final table, Patty Gallagher of San Diego California, completed the top three and received $91,120 for the third spot. Both An and Patty had to overcome early short chip stacks.
The event attracted a field of 213 entrants and had a total prize pool of $1,001,100. T.J. Cloutier of Richardson, Texas finished in the ninth position and takes home $20,020. The final table lasted more than eleven hours with the last hand finally played at 1:20 this morning.
This Friday, 5/21/04, has no regular event scheduled other than the media only tournament; but, the day will feature 4 Super Satellites at 10am, 3pm, 7:45pm and 11pm for the $10,000 World Series of Poker $10,000 World Championship final event beginning on Saturday, 5/22/04. Consider playing in one of the super satellites to win your $10,000 seat and a chance at winning $3 million and the most coveted WSOP bracelet of all.
The 28th event, $1000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em, of the 2004 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas completed with Gary Gibbs of Hot Springs, Arkansas taking home $136,960 and his first WSOP bracelet. He beat Carl McKelvey of Houston, Texas in heads-up action at the final table. Carl won $72,170 for second place and Roland Deslippe of Las Vegas completed the top three with his third place effort and collected $37,780. Aki Wellstone of Tokyo, Japan finished fourth and received $22,060. The event had a record field of 519 players and a total prize pool of $472,290. The senior’s event requires entrants to be at least 50 years old.
The 2004 World Series is closing in on the final event, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em World Championship, which is expected to draw a record field of two thousand players. The event will be determined over the course of seven days. We will be there bringing photos and details of each day’s action. Today’s final table event, $5000 Limit Hold’em, results will be available later this evening.
The 26th event, $1,500 Seven Card Razz, ended this evening when TJ Cloutier of Richardson, Texas beat Dutch Boyd of Culver City, California to win the contest and his fifth WSOP bracelet. 
TJ received $90,500 for his first place finish and Dutch takes home $46,440 for second. Howard Lederer of Las Vegas completed the top three and was paid $28,600 for third.
We congratulate the winners and TJ Cloutier for his fifth bracelet. The event attracted a field of 195 players and collected a total prize pool of $269,100. World Poker Tour star and commentator, Mike Sexton, picked up $4,840 for his 10th place finish.
The 25th event, $3000 Pot Limit Hold’em, of the World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe in exciting downtown Las Vegas ended early today when Gavin Griffen of Darion, Illinois eliminated Gary Bush of London, England in final table heads-up play. 
The win for Gavin made history when the 22 year old became the youngest player ever to win a WSOP event and get to wear the coveted gold bracelet. In addition to the bracelet he collected $270,420 for first place. Gary picks up $139,540 for second and Gabriel Thaler of Cupertino, California receives $69,780 for third.
The event attracted a large crowd of spectators that packed the rails throughout; with much applause and cheering for the players. The ESPS Sports Network filmed the final table for broadcast in June so check your listings to see firsthand all the action down to the final hand.
The event attracted a field of 316 players competing for the prize pool of $872,160. Poker great Phil Hellmuth finished 7th and was paid $34,880, always tough TJ Cloutier out in 15th and Scotty Nguyen was eliminated in the 18th position.
Today's final table, event #26, is Seven Card Razz. The Duece to Seven Triple Draw with Rebuys, event #27, a one day tournament begins at noon today and the Seniors No-Limit Hold'em, event #28, gets under way at 2:00 pm today. A very busy day for the WSOP at the 'Shoe. We will provide final table details and photos for all the action.
I noticed that Al Korson of Los Lunas, New Mexico finished 32nd in the Pot Limit event. I grew up in this sleepy little village. Way to go Al!
The 24th event, $5000 Seven Card Stud World Championship, of the 2004 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas crowned its’ champion this evening. 
The 23rd event, $1500 No Limit Hold’em, of the 2004 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas ended this evening with Ted Forrest of Las Vegas taking his second WSOP bracelet and $300,300 in first place money. Ted beat runner-up, Susan Pritchett of San Antonio Texas, after going heads up. 
Susan takes home $157,820 for second place. Bobby Slagle of Southland, Texas rounded out the top three with third place and $92,800.
The event attracted a field of 834 players and a total prize pool of $1,150,920. James Vogl of London England, winner of a record $400,000 prize in event #2, finished in the 12th spot. Scotty Nguyen of Henderson, Nevada collected $45, 040 for his 7th place finish. We congratulate all the winners and especially Ted Forrest for his continued fine play and second bracelet. A special pat on the back for Susan, another up and coming tough playing lady.
The 22nd event of the 2004 World Series of Poker is complete and the winner, Brett Jungblut of Los Angeles, outlasting Miami John Cernuto of Las Vegas to win his first WSOP bracelet. The $5000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split World Championship event attracted field of 121 and collected a total prize pool of $568,700. Brett took down the first place prize of $187,720; Miami John received $103,500 for second and Brent Carter of Oak Park, Illinois takes home $56,860 for third. Huck Seed, 1996 WSOP Champion, finished fourth for $45,500 in winnings.
The first day of the $1500 No Limit Hold’em, event #23, begin today with a record field of more than eight hundred players. We will have the final table results complete with photos and details as soon as available tomorrow.
The 16th event, $5000 No-Limit Duece to Seven Draw, at the Worlds Series of Poker is history with Barry Greenstein of Palos, California besting a field of 46 entrants that did 84 rebuys to amass a total purse of $740,500. 
This is Barry’s first WSOP bracelet and he collected first place money of $296,200. He beat Chris “Jesus” Ferguson of Pacific Palisades, California in heads up play after the two players outlasted an elite field that included most of the who’s who of poker. Howard Lederer of Las Vegas finished third and takes home $66,645. Lyle Berman of Minneapolis, Minnesota finished in the seven spot.
The 15th event, $2000 Limit Hold’em, of the 2004 World Series of Poker now running at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas completed this evening with front runner Daniel Negreanu of Las Vegas, Nevada taking his third WSOP bracelet and $169,100 in first place money. 
He beat Chris Hinchcliffe of Olympia, Washington after going heads-up. Chris received $92,940 for first runner-up and Minh Nguyen of Bell Gardens, California collected $47,520 for third. The event attracted a field of 287 players and collected a total prize purse of $528,080.
The one-day 16th Event, $5000 No-Limit Duece to Seven Draw with Rebuys, was down to a few tables late this evening. Some of the notables left in the action includes Lyle Berman, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and Barry Greenstein. We will bring the complete results when available.
The World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas has concluded Event #14 late this evening. The $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo tournament attracted a field of 213 players vying for a piece of the $239,940 prize pool. Hasan Habib of Downey, California beat second place finisher Tommy Polk of Brookhaven, Mississippi after four hours of heads up play. Hasan was short stacked early in the heads-up but continued to grind away at Tommy’s overwhelming chip lead until the match finally ended around midnight. Ben Tang of Scottsdale, Arizona completed the top three finishers. Hasan takes home his first WSOP bracelet and $93,060 while Tommy receives $51,440. Ben takes away $29,860 for his third place effort. 
The downtown WSOP action continues daily with something for everyone. If you can’t put together the buy-in money for one of the major events you should try one of the satellites. For as little as fifty dollars you may find yourself seated in one of the $10,000 World Series of Poker Championship seats at the final event with this year’s first place money probably exceeding three million dollars. The $50 single table satellites are located on the first floor in the Race and Sports Book pit with tables forming throughout the day. Finish first or second in one of the single table satellites and you move upstairs into a seat in a Super Satellite playing for one of the $10,000 Championship seats.
The $5000 No-Limit Hold’em, Event #13, of the World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada ended this evening with 23 year old Thomas Keller of Phoenix, Arizona beating 
Martin Deknijff of Stockholm, Sweden for the top spot. This is the first WSOP bracelet for Thomas and he takes down the $382,000 first place money. Martin Deknijff adds the $210,100 second place money to the $2.7 million (largest poker tournament prize to date) he won at the World Poker Tour $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship recently concluded at the Ballagio here in Las Vegas. Third place money of $107,520 goes to James Sausa of Las Vegas, Nevada. Thomas came into the final table as the chip leader and continued to push his advantage to the end. Colorful WSOP regular, Eskimo Clark, of New Orleans, Louisiana was seated at the final table and finished in the six spot winning $59,680. The event attracted a field of 254 players and a total purse of $1,193,800.
While covering today’s event at the Horseshoe I had the pleasure of visiting with Poker Legend, Puggy Pearson. I'll publish some photos and tell you what he had to say in a day or so.
Kent Washington of Oakland, California completed the top three. Scott picked up $300,000 and his first WSOP bracelet. Joe’s second place finish netted him $156,320 and Kent received $91,740.