2007 World Series of Poker

Event 55 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Holdem
Day: 1a
Event Info

2007 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
88
Prize
$8,250,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$59,784,954
Entries
6,358
Level Info
Level
36
Blinds
400,000 / 800,000
Ante
100,000

"Unbelievable!"

The word "unbelievable" and its collective synonyms can often be heard coming from the mouths of players who have been freshly eliminated from the Main Event. The large number of tables in play all but guarantees that a handful of players will go home with some pretty ugly bad beat stories.

Such was the case involving a hand with three amateur poker players we'll call A (for "pocket Aces"), B (for "bad luck"), and C (for "couldn't be happier"). "I had pocket Aces . . . " is probably the most commonly used opening line of most bad beat stories, and if this particular tale was being told by player A, that's exactly how it would begin.

These were the players' hands:

Player A: {A-Hearts}{A-Clubs}
Player B: {10-Hearts}{10-Diamonds}
Player C: {K-Spades}{Q-Spades}

The flop came down {A-Spades}{K-Hearts}{10-Spades}, giving Player A top set, Player B bottom set, and Player C a pair of kings and a royal flush draw! Needless to say, fireworks ensued.

Player A led out with a bet on the flop, which prompted player C to move all-in. Player B just called with his set of 10's, and when the action got back around to Player A, he went all-in over the top of Player C's all-in; Player B called.

Still with me? Good. After all of the betting was complete, the players revealed their cards to the sounds of "ooohing" and "awwing" from players and spectators alike.

The {8-Hearts} fell on the turn, which did not affect the hand. As the players involved nervously awaited their fates, Player C continued to repeat, "I got every out in the book!" One of them was the {J-Hearts} which came on the river, giving Player C a pretty nice pot.

One thing's for sure -- the World Series of Poker is not for the faint of heart.

Rough Feature Table

Victor Ramdin
Victor Ramdin
The ESPN feature table, which included Doyle Brunson before his elimination, has shut down for the day and we are left with a secondary feature table, without all the lights, cameras, and stadium seating that the ESPN table holds.

This table started with Marcel Luske, but he was eliminated earlier this afternoon. One of our Pokernews bloggers had a good friend, Steve Liebenthal, moved to the table, only to find himself sitting with the likes of Victor Ramdin. As if that wasn't bad enough, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott was later moved to the table as well.

Since being moved there, Liebenthal went from 19,000 to 5,000 and Devilfish is down to just 2,600. Talk about a rough table!

Tags: Dave UlliottDoyle BrunsonSteve LiebenthaVictor Ramdin

Opponent Hates Raymond

Board: {Q-Clubs}{K-Diamonds}{3-Clubs}{J-Hearts}{5-Spades}

Ray Romano limps in the cutoff. The small blind calls and the big blind checks the option. On the flop, the blinds check and Romano bets. The SB calls. On the turn, the SB checks. Romano bets and is called. On the river, the SB checks. Romano goes all in for 15,000.

"Will you show me if I fold?" the SB asks. "Yeah, I'll show you," Romano says. "You're not gonna like me, though."

The SB folds his {K-Clubs} face up. Romano shows {7-Diamonds}{6-Diamonds} for the bluff. He's now at 21,000.

Tags: Ray Romano

Brandon Adams Doubles Up

Things were not looking good for Brandon Adams, who got all of his money in before the flop holding pocket Kings against an opponent's pocket Aces.

His hopes grew even thinner as the flop came {Q-Hearts}{9-Spades}{6-Spades}, but a miracle {K-Hearts} fell on the turn and it was Adams' opponent who needed to get lucky.

The {J-Diamonds} was the last card off the deck and Adams' opponent would have no such luck. The double-up increased Adams' chip stack to just over 50,000.

Tags: Brandon Adams

100 Per Hour

Once we returned from the dinner break and players were in their seats, the tournament staff announced that we started the day with 1,287 people and were down to 900.

The tournament staff just announced, an hour after their last announcement, that we are already down to 800 players. Simple math puts that at losing one hundred players per hour.

"This is a nine-day event," the tournament staff joked over the mic.

Not-So-Average Joes

Joe Awada raised to 1,800 from early position and Joe Tehan made the call. They saw a flop of {K-Hearts}{K-Spades}{8-Spades} and Awada check-called Tehan's 2,300 bet. Both players checked the turn. When the {Q-Clubs} fell on the river, Awada fired out 3,000 and Tehan folded. Awada flipped over {K-Diamonds}{J-Diamonds} and Tehan said that he folded pocket Jacks. That pot pushed Awada up to 59,000 while Tehan has slipped to 25K.

Tags: Joe AwadaJoe Tehan

It's All About the Sharing

Huck Seed brought everyone at his table chocolate truffles to enjoy after the dinner break. "Not the cheap (stuff) either," he said. They were Bija Omega truffles and Seed estimated he bought about $50 worth. Which should make his opponents less bitter about having to sit at the same table as a former World Champion.

Tags: Huck Seed