This year’s WSOP has been a lot of fun to watch. We have players like Barry Greenstein, Eric Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, and Nenad Medic all make final tables and ultimately take down first prize and the bracelet. It looks like the professional players have made the transition and have figured out how to counter the hyper-aggressive style of many of the online qualifiers in these tournaments. They are reclaiming their place amongst the elite in the largest poker tournament in the world.We used to say that the fields are so large that the pro’s would have a difficult time winning at the WSOP. Not anymore. Even last year, with Scotty Nguyens collapse, he was still one stupid move away from making the final table and actually having a great chance to win it all. Scotty lost his damn mind on that hand but I still love him. I’d bet he will never pull that one again no matter how many Michelob’s he drinks.

Over the years much has been written about how we would never see the professional players winning bracelets as frequently as we did in the past but all that seems to have changed this year. Apparently you can teach old dogs new tricks. I know we are only half way done with the 2008 WSOP and still have a ways to go but my money is on the professional players this time around. The game has changed and the pro’s have made the adjustments.

Hold on to your seat belts. I think we are in for a nice ride.

Barry Greenstein made the worst hand possible more often than not. He just took down the WSOP bracelet and the $158,659 first prize in the Deuce - Seven Razz tournament.

Barry beat out the field of 453 players. Greenstein battled Chris Klodnicki at the final table but took it down eventually after Klodnicki could not hit his hand in a crucial all-in.

Instead of hanging around and taking it all in Barry rushed off to play in another tournament he had already been entered in for the past couple of hours or so getting blinded off.

Congratulations Barry!

Make way for Vanessa Selbst. She is the first lady to win the Pot Limit Omaha poker tournament and the twelfth to win a bracelet at the WSOP. Vanessa led the event from start to finish which is very rare.

Vanessa had a three to one chip lead going into the final table over the next closest competitor and closed out the deal to take down $227,933 and her first bracelet.

Well done Vanessa!

Some events at the World Series of Poker draw plenty of amateurs. These events are usually no-limit hold’em events with relatively modest buy-in requirements. These events can draw thousands of players and the pros are often lost in the parade of novices, who usually play poker online, but want to take a shot at a WSOP bracelet.Other events draw relatively few amateurs. These events feature games that are less popular among the viewing public, with buy-ins that may be prohibitively high for casual poker players. These events are very appealing to pros, as it gives them a real chance to test their skills against other strong players. One of these events at the 2008 WSOP was the $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball with Rebuys event, which was just won by seasoned veteran Mike “The Mouth” Matusow.

While a $5,000 event in itself may seem rather steep, this is a rebuy event, which means many players who want to be competitive will have to fork over $20,000 or more. Furthermore, the type of poker played, deuce to seven lowball, is one played almost exclusively in high stakes private games, so this truly is a professionals-only event.

2-7 Lowball is a five-card draw game, and your objective is to make the worst hand. Unlike other forms of low or high low split poker, deuce to seven requires that you truly make the worst hand. An ace is a high card and a straight or a flush counts, so the lowest hand is 7 5 4 3 2, hence the name deuce to seven.

It’s been two years since ten time bracelet winner Johnny Chan made a charge towards a WSOP final table.

What happened?

Johnny Chan is usually one of the most visible players at the poker tournament. It could be that the lure of cash games has gotten his attention as there is a lot more money to be earned there. Could it be a lack of interest? I doubt it. Chan is one of the most competitive professional poker players on the tour.

Most likely it’s simply the untimely bad beat or bad run of cards that we all encounter from time to time. It happens to the best of them. Personally, I am looking forward to Chan winning his eleventh bracelet if for nothing else than shutting up Phil Hellmuth and his constant bragging.

Hopefully he does it sooner than later.

Curtis III

Jimmy Shulz out lasted the final eighteen players including chip leader Eric Lindgren to take down the WSOP bracelet in the $1500 Limit Hold’em event. Shulz took home a $257,105 first prize for his efforts.

Congratulations Jimmy Shultz!

Philip Tom won his first WSOP bracelet yesterday in the  $5000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event. The win earned Tom the top prize of $477,900 and his first WSOP bracelet.

Congratulations Philip!

Farzad Rouhani takes down the $232,911 first prize WSOP bracelet for winning the Omaha 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo event. Farzad took down the $2500 buy-in tournament from 388 other hopefuls.

Congratulations Farzad.

Curtis III

Matt Keikoan took down the $2000 NLHE poker tournament. Matt beat out a final table that included Theo Tran and J.C. Tran for a first prize pay day of $550,601!

Congratulations Matt.

Curtis III

Thang Luue bested a field of 832 players to take down the $243,356 first prize and the 2008 WSOP Limit Omaha Hi/Lo bracelet.

Well done Thang!

Curtis III

The 31 year old Eric Lindgren took down the $5k WSOP Mixed Hold’em even in what was an extremely tough final table. This table was stacked with tournament professionals like David Williams, Roland DeWolf, and Howard Lederer.

I’m sure we have not seen the last of Eric in this years WSOP poker tournaments. Look for Eric to make a few more final tables before the 2008 WSOP is over.

Curtis III

Grant Hinkle finally took down the Bracelet and $831,462 first prize after a sixteen hour delay. He bested a field of 3929 players for the win in what turns out to be the longest poker tournament thus far of the 2008 WSOP.

Curtis III