14th -18th
May - $10,000 Championship Holdem (No
limit) - 613 (512) players (+20%), another record! Prizepool
$6,130,000 (+20%). 1st prize $1,500,000 (0%). Just twelve players short of
pushing the first prize to $2,000,000. Second prize will be the fourth biggest
poker prize in history. Sixty-nine tables started the event.
Days : One : Two : Three : Four : Final Day
Day One
Early exits include Britain's best hope Dave
"Devilfish" Ulliot, reigning world champion Chris Ferguson, the world's top
tournament performer T.J. Cloutier, PokerMillion winner John Duthie, and 1999
champion Noel Furlong. On Cloutier's table there were at least four great
players, himself, 1998 champion Scotty Nguyen, top Brit Surindar Sunar and
former woman's champion Annie Duke. T.J got over excited about a pair of kings
and went all in on a Q-high flop. Diego Cordovez called with A-A and took him
out. A little earlier he had taken Duke out with the same hand, making that
four times in a short period that he had pocket Aces.
Other players to
go out where; Nani Dollison, this years double Bracelet winner and back to back
woman's champion; Ram Vaswani, London's and England's only tournament winner at
this years World Series.
GGG's bet on Noel
Furlong bit the dust but we have Sexton still running.
383 players
left after Day One. There is a re-draw for seats tomorrow when the picture will
start to clear. With so many top runners out it looks like a relative unknown
will pick the crown this year.
Chip leader going into Day Two is
Canadian Ron Miller with $79,000, the man who took out our horse Noel Furlong.
Other notables; Phan with $56,650; Allen Cunningham, recent 7-stud winner with
$50,000, Britain's Jac Arama with $40k and John Kabbaj with $27k and Barney
Boatman with $23k and Ian Dobson with $20k; Hellmuth with $27k; Padraig
Parkinson with $24k, Scotty Nguyen and Eric Seidel $15k, Russ Hamilton $14k,
Surinder Sunar $12k and our own Jesse May with $11k. Chan struggles with
$6k.
GGG's runner Mike Sexton is still in with
$13k. Average stack size is $20k.
 Day Two at the
World Championship of Poker
The second day at the Championship event saw
the field narrow down to 141 players. There are just two woman left in the
field, Cathy Liebert short stacked and Phyliss Meyers on around $11k. A dozen
or so Europeans survive but their chances of a Matloubi(1990)/Furlong(1999)
success are looking poor.
Chip leader with and average chip count of
$43,475 is Sammy Farha Aziz on $156,200. Young high stakes player John Hennigan
has $124,800. Phil Hellmuth was under pressure most of the day but bounced back
with a class display to make Day Three with $59,300 in chips (32nd
spot).
Top European (Israeli actually, but hey aren't they in the
Eurovision song contest?) is Teddy Tuile of Tel Aviv with $126k. He's famous
for coming second in the PokerMillion in the Isle of Man. Top Brit is Mike
Magee who recently came second to Zolotow in the $3,000 Pot Limit Holdem event
here. He's in top gear right now and has $57,500 (34th).
Notable
Europeans : Chris Bjorin $45,800 definitely in with a chance, Dave Colclough
$38,400, Barney Boatman $28,500, Padraig Parkinson $31,300, John Walsh $21,100,
Surinder Sunar $22,300, Ash Pervaiz $9,700.
Notable Americans : Paul
Phillips $67,300 (27th), Danny Negraneau $110k in sixth spot is best placed
famous player, Mickey Appleman $23,500 and host of players in the mid-range
bracket include Chip Winton $50,800, Allen Cunningham $54,200 (24 year old
7-stud winner), Kevin Song $47,100 (gets everywhere), Mike Sexton (GGG's horse)
$37,000, Jay Heimowitz (seniors winner) $39,200, also Diego Cordovez $80k (took
out T.J.).
Complete Day Two
Player List
After Day Three there will be a Calcutta Auction, which
means the remaining 45 players will be auctioned off to the highest bidders.
Bids form a pool and the buyer of the winning player will recieve 40% of the
pool. Second place owner 25% etc. Minimum bid is $500 and with poker players on
tilt after a month of punishment this could really rocket. Minimum pool will be
$75,000 but if the first few big names go for more than a few '000 then the
pool will be heading to $200,000. Telephone bids accepted (not).
Day
Three at the World Championship of Poker -
Wednesday 16th May
Story of the day
is the loss of Sammy Aziz (Farha) who came into today in 1st spot with $156k in
chips, rose to over $320k and then disappeared! Great moves were made by Phil
Hellmuth, 1989 Champion. At one stage on the first day he was down to $2000 and
all-in for that. Danny Negreanu dropped earlier today to well below $100k but
roared back in the final stages.1993 Champion Jim Bechtel is in with a serious
chance having $223k. Poor Paul Phillips had the worst day with back-to-back
turnover of his pocket Aces, once by Jacks and once by Nines, turning a $200k
stack into zip.
Chris Bjorin, the over looked and under-rated quiet man
of European poker flies the flag for a number of European hopes, Sweden,
Britain and London. He has made big strides spending most of his time with a
small stack.
Teddy Tuile, 2nd coming into today and 2nd in the
PokerMillion, has gone. Remaining Brits are Mike Magee with $55k in 38th spot
and Barney Boatman, who cashed before only last year in this event, has $40k in
43rd spot.
Mike Sexton was one of GGG's two bets (100-1) and he is
making very solid progress with $122k in 24th spot. We chose him over Chris
Bjorin so we were always going to be in there. Play starts at noon Thursday
(Vegas time) and the antes will be $1,000, the blinds $2,000-4,000.
End
of Play Complete Day Three Player
List - Table
Breakdown - Radio
times
Scheduled for 11:00 on Thursday (Vegas time) is the Calcutta
Auction as explained above. Players will sell for amounts relative to their
percieved strength and the weakness of the table they have been designated.
Minimum bid of $500 should make it worth watching.
Day
Four at the World Championship of Poker -
Thursday 17th May
The fourth day
begun early, too early for most, especially after last night's grinding finish.
The auction scheduled for 11a.m. was not a roaring success, maybe the 10%
vigourish wasn't helping the tired players. When we used to have Calcuttas at
the World Backgammon Championships over in Monte Carlo it was always at a
dinner for 800 people, so they were half drunk at the time.
Anyway they
collected the mediocre amount of $24,300 (-10%) and they sold everyone in units
of $100, not $500 as intended. Check the
Day Three Players List for what
they went for. No surprise to see Hellmuth top the list. Some of the lower
players were sold in groups. Buyer of the winning player gets 60% of the pool,
2nd 30% and 3rd 10%.
Play started at 12 noon with fast and furious
action. See Results to see who
is out. David Pham surprise out from 20th place to a 44th finish and Gene
Malatesta out 40th from 12th, Gustano Echeverr 34th from 14th. Barney Boatman
managed over 3 hours with his short stack and was the last British survivor
going out 33rd for $30,000. Hellmuth and Negreanu are chip leaders with ~$400k
at 15:30 VT (Vegas Time).
Not much into the fourth hour and we lost two
of GGG's favourites, Chris Bjorin the last Londoner and vaguely British player
and then Mike Sexton, GGGs real horse who looked good value at 100-1. Several
other top players have gone, ex-champ Bechtel, Kevin Song and recent series
winner Allen Cunningham. Two tables left at 18:00 VT and Hellmuth, the 1989
champion, is leader with >$600k.
Aggressive play. Just before 18:00
VT Larry Wood left the table with A-K finding A-A. Then a monster hand between
Phil Hellmuth, Matasow and Phil Gordon. Matasow made it $20k, Gordon raised
only to see Phil move all in for more than $400k (he had just burnt $100k
trying to bluff Matasow and they thought he might be chasing). Matasow threw
Queens and after a long while Gordon passed Kings. Hellmuth turned over Aces.
(amazing pass from Gordon)
Later Negreanu, who had been challenging for chip
leader for some time, got Nowakowski all in for half a million dollars holding
6-6 when he had A-K. He didn't improve and the "Nugget" doubled through.
In
closing minutes before Arturi Diaz was knocked out, Hellmuth the chip leader
tried a complete pre-flop bluff with 4-7 spades, only to catch Nowakowski with
Queens. It switched their chip positions but no real damage.
See what
happened to the last 45. If
Phil Hellmuth finishes in 5th spot or better he will become the all time
top money winner at the World Series Of
Poker.
Day Five the
last day of the World Championship of Poker - Friday
18th May
Final
Table Started:
Henry Nowakowski $1,076,000,
Carlos Mortensen
$873,000,
Phil Hellmuth $859,000,
Mike Matusow $767,000,
Phil Gordon
$681,000,
Stan Schrier $672,000,
Dewey Tomko $467,000,
Steve Reihle
$407,000,
John Inashima $328,000. |
Picture of the Winner and $1½million Full result The task for Hellmuth was 5th
or better to be all-time money leader at the WSOP. The best story of the
champioship was Steve Reihle who paid $200 to enter a super-satelite and would
walk with at least $91,000. This was the first Series event he ever played.
12:45 (Vegas) At the start
its $2000 antes and $5k and $10k blinds.
13:05 Little action, no
player making a move. Antes $3000, $5 & $15k blinds. Hellmuth unusually
quiet, he tries a bet of $30k in the dark before the flop came over after a
$40k open. Gorden puts it down on A-J-T flop. Gorden is betting every
hand.
13:20 Hellmuth up to $1000k, Gordon aggressive to $900k.
Nowakowski same as start, everyone else down. 500 spectators and camera
crew.
13:35 (Vegas time, 21:35 London) Hellmuth calls Tomko's all in
bet of $300k with A-Q diamonds. Tomko had A-K and that stood up, doubles thru
to $600+. Hellmuth looking weak. No one out.
13:50 Hellmuth looking
weak. No one out.
14:05 15 minute break.
14:35 No one
out, slow play.
14:50 Arguments over slow play.
15:05
John Inashima out bluffing with T-5clubs,
called by Carlos Mortensen with A-9spades. John caught a five on the flop, a
nine hit the river. Next hand Mike Matusow bets 35k, raised by Nowakowski 100k,
all-in for 400k more, called. Mike had K-K, Henry J-J, flop 4-6-6-4-2, Mike
doubles thru to 1000k.
15:20 Steve
Reihle gets all in with J-J against Phil Gordon's A-K. Small cards
all the way but 3rd spade on 4th street and another on The River, the A-K
flushed and Steve is 8th.
15:35 4k antes, 10-20k blinds, 54k per
round.
15:50 Carlos bets 80k, Mike raises 300k, Henry all in for
600k, Mike calls, Carlos folds. Mike has 7-2 offsuit! Henry A-Q. Henry doubles
thru back to million+. Mike then gets all in for 300k with A-T and against a
raiser having A-7suited from Gordon. Mike doubles back up.
16:05
Henry plays an odd hand. Gordon bets 70k, Henry raises 70k with A-K, Gordon
flat calls with 9-7. Flop is 9-7-5 and Henry bets out of turn, Gordon sets him
in, call. Henry loses a big chunk. Two hands later Henry bets with 7-7, Phil
Hellmuth raises him all-in with J-J which holds up. Henry Nowakowski is 7th.
16:20 Phil
Gordon loses a big pot to Matusow who makes three Kings on the flop and checks.
Gordon bets 200k, Mike raises 200k and gets called. 15 minute
break
16:50 Phil Gordon gets all-in with 6-6 and finds Phil Hellmuth
with the two black nines that he won his world title with. Gordon spikes a 6 on
the flop and takes a chunk from Hellmuth.
17:10 (Vegas time) Hellmuth
raises 8 pots in 10 minutes, loses one but picks up.
17:25 Mike bets
60k, Carlos raises 150k, Mike raises 350k, Carlos raises all-in. Mike throws
A-J and Carlos shows Q-8 offsuit for a complete bluff. Then Carlos with A-T
clubs takes Hellmuth with A-K all-in, the flop K-x-x but two clubs. Hellmuth's
hand stands up.
17:40 Dewey Tomko gets all-in with K-K and Mike
Matusow calls with T-T. The Kings hold up. Then Mike picks up 8-8 in the small
blind only to find Hellmuth with K-K in the big blind. The Kings stand again
and Mike Matusow is 6th.
17:55
Blinds to 15-30k, antes 6k.
18:15 Four peope limp into a pot. Flop is
Q-9-4 and two spades. Hellmuth bets 60k Carlos raises 250k and Phil Hellmuth
raises all-in. Carlos calls and Phil turns over Q-T but Carlos has Q-J and Phil
doesn't inprove 4th and 5th street. Phil
Hellmuth is 5th and the new all-time money winner at the
WSOP.
| 19:30 |
chips |
| PG |
4th |
| HN |
7th |
| JI |
9th |
| CM |
4000 |
| SS |
3rd |
| MM |
6th |
| PH |
5th |
| DT |
2100 |
| SR |
8th |
18:30 Dewey
all-in heads up with A-T against Carlos with K-Q and doubles
thru.
18:45 Phil Gordon gets
all-in with A-6 against Carlos with Q-Q. Flop T-4-5, turn 7 to get a draw but K
on the end takes Gordon our. Carlos has busted everyone so far.
18:50
Stan Schrier tries it on when Dewey bets
150k but has K-K. Flop A-J-9 gives Stan an open ended draw but nothing comes.
Stan finishes 3rd.
18:55 Cardboard box delivers $1.5 million onto the
table. Break.
19:50 Carlos and
Dewey swap hands, picking off the blinds. After many hands they get
to see a flop after Dewey limps in, Carlos raises 100k, Dewey raises 300k and
gets called. Flop comes J-T-3 with two clubs, Carlos bets 100k, Dewey raises
400k and Dewey got raised all in. Call by Dewey. Carlos has K-Q clubs, the best
draw possible and Dewey has Ace-Ace. The turn is nothing, making Carlos a 3-1
dog but for the second year running, a 9 hits the river and 29 year old Carlos
Mortenson from Madrid, Spain is the new World Champion. Dewey Tomko, 54, comes
second for the second time. The other was 1982 behind Jack Strauss where again
he lost on the last card (although he would have won here if his Aces had
stood, but he would have been good favourite).
| How the Final Finished |
1
Carlos Mortenson $1,500,000
2 Dewey Tomko $1,098,925
3
Stan Schrier $699,315
4 Phil Gordon $399,610
5 Phil
Hellmuth $303,705
6 Mike Matusow $239,765
7 Henry
Nowakowski $179,825
8 Steve Reihle $119,885
9 John
Inashima $91,910 |
 |
| The last nine players started at 12:45 Vegas time, 20:45
London time. Hellmuth started clear favourite. Nowakowski had won big European
tournaments and Matusow is a previous Bracelet winner. Mortensen had picked
titles elsewhere from Vegas and of course Dewey Tomko had seen everything
before, being fourth in the number of all time
cashes in the WSOP and second here in 1982 behind Jack Strauss. It all finished at
ten minutes before eight o'clock when the dealer turned a nine to make
Mortenson's straight to take a $4 million pot. |
Final Results/Prizes page is
here
Series Prize fund total $17,720,482 (+16%). Final player
total 5738 (+16%). |
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