2007 WSOP Overview, June 30th — Schneider Wins Second; Edler Captures Short-Handed Gold
While a new single-day attendance record was set, courtesy of a massive field in the day's $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em Event #50, Tom Schneider and Bill Edler posted the day's biggest results. Schneider became the year's first double champion, winning Event #46, $1,000 Seven Card Stud High/Low split, while Edler captured the day's biggest prize, winning the title in Event #45, $5,000 No Limit Hold 'Em (Six-Handed).
Edler's win in the short-handed event was a worst-to-first turnaround, as he began the final table spot sixth in chips, well behind leaders Erik Friberg and Alex Bolotin. Edler survived the early knockouts of two other shorter stacks, then pulled away after a brief four-way see-saw duel with Bolotin, Friberg and Greg Pohler. Pohler and Friberg eventually fell, with Edler catching a needed ten on the last hand's flop to put away Bolotin for the win. Edler's triumph was worth $904,672, while Bolotin collected $504,686 for finishing second.
Schneider's also had a worst-to-first tale of sorts, though it was on Day Two of his seven-stud event, when he dodged elimination in several showdowns and arrived at the final table with the chip lead. Here, Schneider remained in contention throughout, with he and eventual runner-up Hoyt Verner swapping the lead for much of the day's action. With the rapid-fire eliminations of Scotty Nguyen in fourth and Miguel de la Cruz in third, Schneider and Verner began a brief heads-up duel; Verner took an early lead but the cards soon turned Schneider's way. The 'DonkeyBomber's win was worth $147,713, and vaulted him to the top of the WSOP Player of the Year point race.
In Event #47, $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em, 142 players from an original 2,038 returned for Day Two play. The field, already well into the money spots, played down to a final table today filled with big names. Steve 'Stan' Crawford comes to the final with the lead, but Anna Wroblewski, Roland de Wolfe, Blair Rodman and Joe Pelton all bring sizeable chip stacks to the final, where a $707,898 winner's check is at stake.
Event #48, the $1,000 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw (w/ Rebuys) tourney, saw Jon Shoreman hold on to his Day One lead. Shoreman takes 518,000 in chips to the six-player final, with Rafi Amit, at 374,000, the closest challenger. This final table begins at 7pm local time, with the last six players chasing a $227,005 payday.
Saturday's new event was a record breaker. 3,151 players, a new single-day, single-event attendance record, took part in Event #49, $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em. This was the last of the $1,500 NL freezeouts on the year's schedule, and alternates waited by the hundreds to be seated at the tables. The crush of hopefuls forced a delay in resuming all the continuing events, but when the night's play had concluded, the field had been trimmed all the way down to 218 players, well inside the 324-player cash bubble. Mads Andersen enters Day Two action as the leader, with 147,200 in chips.
Two more events begin today. Starting at noon is Event #50, $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha, sure to attract a big-name field. At 5pm, Event $51, $1,000 S.H.O.E. (similar to H.O.R.S.E., but without Razz) begins. Updates on all the day's events are available in Pokernews.com's 'Live Reporting' section.
