Poker News

12-Day Main Event Gets Underway

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:26:11 -0700

by Noah Parker

Event 54 at the 2008 WSOP is the one that everyone has been waiting for; The Main Event.

This years main event is expected to bring several thousand players as the first day brought in 1,297 competitors.

Mark Garner, who finished 25th in last years WSOP, has a leg up on the competition as he ended Day 1a as the chip leader.

Past winners and other pros entered in Day 1a are Dan Harrington, Berry Johnston, Bobby Baldwin and Scotty Nguyen. Professional staples including Freddy Deeb, Chau Giang, Barry Greenstein, Ben Roberts and Billy Baxter were there. And 2008 WSOP preliminary event bracelet winners Max Greenwood, Vanessa Selbst, Svetlana Gromenkova, Rep Porter, Marty Smyth, Blair Hinkle, David Benyamine, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, and Dan LaCourse also took the field. While the celebrity factor was a little light, actors Ray Ramono, Jason Alexander, and Mekhi Phifer all were found there as well.

Day 1a leaders are as follows:

Mark Garner -- 194,900
Brandon Adams -- 176,450
Kellen Hunter --155,200
Stefan Mattsson -- 154,275
Patrick Fortin -- 145,275
Jeff Frerichs -- 138,025
Soren Peterson -- 135,475
Adam Hudson -- 127,750
Wayne Brown -- 124,575
Todd Rebello -- 123,925

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Matthew Graham Takes Down Event 53

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:31:47 -0700

by Brad Silberg

Event 53 wrapped up yesterday and Las Vegas native Matthew Graham edged out 822 other players to finally go home with $278,180 and a brand new gold bracelet. Event 53 was a $1,500 Limit Hold 'Em Shootout tournament that lasted for 3 days.

Graham has cashed in the WSOP 5 times, 4 of which were in 2008. He also placed in events 1, 4, and 10.

Placing second was Survivor's bad bay, Jean-Robert Bellande. Bellande made headlines when he was on Survivor and told the world that his poker skills would get him to the top. After he was eliminated very quickly, the world began to watch him playing poker. This is his 8th cash at the WSOP and his second of the 2008 season. His all time WSOP winnings are now up at an astonishing $431,160.

Coming in third was Joe Deniro, who received his 4th cash and his highest placing in 3rd. For his third place finish Deniro won $107,845 which is significantly higher than his previous top WSOP finish earning $4,700.

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2008 WSOP Event 52 Results

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:10:57 -0700

by Brad Silberg

Event 52 at the 2008 World Series of Poker was a $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em tournament that drew 2,693 players. 8 time WSOP casher, David Daneshgar won his first bracelet by taking down this event and going home with a fantastic payday of $625,443. This marks David's third cash of the 2008 WSOP season, however, both previous cashes were under $5,000 so this one is sure to brighten up his year.

Second place went to Scott Sitron who also received his third cash of the 2008 season. For his second place finish, Scott won $385,974. Sitron comes from Glendale, CA where after his huge win, will most likely be quitting his job to play poker full time.

Rounding out the top 3 was a very experienced player in Dan Heimiller. Heimiller received $275,695 for his third place finish. This cash marks his 32nd cashing in the WSOP and his 2nd cash of 2008. His total tally of earnings for WSOP placings is now $841,105. He was won 1 bracelet since he first cashed in 1997, and has had 4 top 5 finishes since then.

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Hellmuth Falls Short Of Twelfth Bracelet

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:27:32 -0700

by Dan Strohl

Phil Hellmuth almost had a grasp of his record setting twelfth WSOP bracelet, as he came in third place in Event 51: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. tournament yesterday. The winner of the event was James Schaaf who went home with a fantastic $256,412 to go along with the bracelet.

Shaaf is a software engineer from Torrance, CA, who received his first WSOP cash, giving him a great name on the circuit.

Second place went to Tam Hang who ended the day with a $158,933 check. This is Hang's 8th cash at the WSOP, but just two weeks ago, he came 3rd in Event 30, and went home with another $194,674. 2008 is proving to be a profitable one for Hang considering that he is less than 25 years old.

Hellmuth 'The Poker Brat' as mentioned, came in 3rd place, and went home with $93,168 making this his 67th WSOP cash. Hellmuth has won an amazing $5,853,745 in WSOP tournaments alone. That is not including the other 5 or so million that he's won in other tournaments.

This is Hellmuth's fourth cash in 2008, his biggest prior one was an 8th place finish in Event 28.

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Event 50 At 2008 WSOP Almost Makes A Millionaire

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:33:29 -0700

by Dan Strohl

Marty Smyth, a former civil servant from Belfast Ireland, almost became a millionaire when he took down Event 50: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha at the 2008 WSOP yesterday. Smyth outlasted a multi hour final table and 380 other players to finally take home a check worth $859,549 and a shiny new WSOP champion bracelet.

This marks Smyth's second cash of the 2008 season, and the second ever in the WSOP. He was closely followed by Peter Jetten, who earned his 4th ever WSOP cash and $528,256 by coming in second place in this event.

Jetten is a Hendon Mob member who plays at Full Tilt Poker. This win is his 8th cash in a big tournament bringing his total earnings up to around $600,000.

Placing third was Michael Mizrachi who now increases his WSOP cashes to 19. This is by far his biggest win at $331,279. His grand total of WSOP cashes is now up to $587,276. Mizrachi has also cashed 4 other times this year, with his best placing in 8th.

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