World Series of Poker Report

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by Gambling Correspondent Andrew W Scott
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Sunday 8 July 2007, 6pm (Las Vegas time)

Day 1A: Friday 6 July

1,287 people started day 1A at 12 noon Las Vegas time, and by the time the dust had settled at approximately 4am the next morning, 842 of them (65%) had busted out, leaving only 445 players left alive. Vegas is currently suffering daily maximums around 114F (46C), so a collective sigh of relief was heard around the room when it was announced the all play would take place in the air-conditioned Amazon room, without any play occurring in the “fan-cooled” Poker Tent.

Living legend of the game, 1976 and 1977 champion Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson entered the room to a standing ovation, but was eliminated after a few hours. Ray Romano of Everybody Love Raymond fame also played, but also didn’t make it. 1978 champion and former Bellagio Casino President and CEO, Bobby Baldwin also played today. He is still alive at the end of the day, having turned his $20,000 starting stack into $16,800. While Baldwin’s was not a great day 1, as long as he is alive he remains a threat.

The top five chips stacks at the end of day 1A were:

1st          Timten Olivier                     $270,500
2nd         John Dutchak                     $209,600
3rd          Steve Austin                       $205,000
4th          Michael Tureniec               $203,900
5th          Aurelio Arcano                   $166,000

Day 1B: Saturday 7 July

1,545 people started day 1B at 12 noon Las Vegas time, and again play ended around 4am the next morning, with only 587 players left alive. Once again players were thankful that all play was in the air-conditioned Amazon room.

The Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon played today, and was still alive with $44,400 in chips at the end of the day. An amazing story of the day was that of blind player Jason Holbrook. He has a female assistant who whispers in his ear what his cards are and provides a commentary as every hand (including the hands he is not involved in) unfolds. Holbrook sits with his head down on the table, a picture of total concentration. High stakes tournament poker is tough at the best of times, but to play blind is an extraordinary feat. Sadly Jason did not make it through the day, but he certainly won the admiration of all who watched him.

With fields this huge, there are bound to be extraordinary poker hands. Take this one: an unknown player holding a pair of 8s must have felt confident when the board came , giving him four of a kind, an absolute monster hand. Unfortunately he ran into Gene Strickland who was holding , and when the fourth and fifth board cards came , Strickland made a straight flush. As any poker player will tell you a straight flush beats four of a kind, but losing with four of a kind in poker is akin in the luck stakes to being hit on the head with a meteorite.

How’s this for another incredible hand: four players hold , , and respectively. The board comes and they split the pot up four ways, all sharing the straight on the board. Seeing a pair of Aces against another pairs of Aces is strange enough, but with pocket Kings and pocket tens as well? And then the board comes with a made straight???? That must be odds of millions to one.

Australia’s own Joe Hachem played on day 1B, on the ESPN feature TV table. It was a tough day for Joe, but he is still alive having turned his $20,000 starting stack into $35,300 in tournament chips. He survived a very scary moment when his Ace-King was up against a pair of Aces, but the flop came 10-Jack-Queen giving him a very lucky straight.

Aussies Gary Benson and Sam Khouiss also played today. Benson struggled for most of the day, getting up to $55,000, dropping back to a mere $8,000, but managing to finish the day with a respectable $41,900. I watched Gary for over an hour, he was clearly frustrated but played his usual strong and tight game. I also watched Sam for a while, and his usual endless patter was in overdrive. One hand he announced to his opponent “I am miles ahead of you here”, but his opponent raised him, and Sam reluctantly folded. It was a great fold because both players graciously showed each other their cards after the hand and Sam would have lost had he called the raise.

1998 champion Scotty Nguyen and the lovely Evelyn Ng were playing on the second TV table. They both survived the day with $129,000 and $70,800 in tournament chips respectively. Other big names still alive include 1995 champion Dan Harrington. 1988 runner up Erik Seidel has been eliminated.

Chips stacks at the end of day 1B:

1st          Dag Martin Mikkelsen       $236,000
2nd         Jeff Banghart                      $186,200
3rd          Albert Strickland                $180,700
4th          George Dunst                    $168,900
5th          Lewis Pilkington                $166,000

Some Australians still alive that played on day 1B:

87th        Sam Khouiss                        $88,900
312th     Gary Benson                        $41,900
369th     Joe Hachem                         $35,300

Day 1C: Sunday 8 July

1,743 players are playing today (Las Vegas time), the biggest day 1 field so far. Today player’s include 1991 winner Brad Daugherty, poker pros Phil Ivey and Allen Cunnigham, Seinfeld star Jason Alexander, Celine Dion’s husband Rene Angelil, 2000 winner Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, former NHL player Rick Tocchet, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, 2003 winner Chris Moneymaker, poker author and veteran T.J. Cloutier, poker pros Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Men "The Master" Nguyen and American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth amongst many other celebrities and poker professionals and amateurs alike.

Due to the larger field some players did find themselves in the poker tent, including T.J. Cloutier, but by the end of the first two levels enough players had busted out to consolidate all play into the main Amazon room.

Mike Panzarella busted out on an incredible hand. He was looking at a board of , with a pair of Aces in his hand. Mike bet, but his opponent, Takaski Takii, re-raised all in. After Panzarella called Takii flipped over . The final two board cards came to give him four of a kind sending Panzarella packing. To catch two perfect cards like that has odds of nearly 1,000-to-1. Someone should put Panzarella on suicide watch for the next 24 hours! What a way to go.

At the time of filing this report, the day 1C was into the third level for the day. Highly regarded poker pros Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow have all just been eliminated. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson is up to $44,000 in chips. George Costanza (sorry, Jason Alexander) is master of his domain with $34,000 in chips. The chip leader at the moment is David Mitchell-Lolis with $82,000.

Tomorrow’s day 1D is expected to be the largest field of the four days 1s. Your intrepid reporter is playing tomorrow, starting on table 227, sitting in seat number 3, at 5am Tuesday Eastern Australian time. Wish me luck!

Live minute-by-minute updates of the tournament are available here.