The 2007 World Series kicked off on June 1^st with two events: the usual $500 Casino Employees event, and the new $5000 World Championship Mixed Games event. It also kicked off with a good old argument as players, led by Mike “The Mouth” Matusow (who else), revolted over the introduction of the new “Poker Peek” cards.

“Poker Peek” cards were designed by Bicycle, with the main difference being that the numbers in the corners of the cards are angled, supposedly to make it easier to see when peeking. Needless to say this didn’t go down well; poker players after all are notoriously stubborn. They like things “just so”, and these cards were definitely not “just so”. Three hours in and they were hurriedly replaced.

The 2007 WSOP was supposed to be a scaled down affair, at least that is what the scaremongers had us believe in the aftermath of the UIGEA. Harrah’s made a fuss about internet qualifying and with the all the problems facing the online poker industry it seemed numbers for this year would be significantly down. Or was that just wishful thinking on the part of the US Department of Justice?

So far it certainly looks like it, with the Rio’s Amazon room so overcrowded a major scrap looks likely. Indeed so many players were crushed into the hall on day two that the start of the second day of Event #1 had to be put back by two and a half hours.

Eventually that event got back under way and played down to a final table of nine players, who would return to battle it out on Day Three to crown the first WSOP winner of 2007. Day Three also saw the first of the mega-fields line up when players took their seat for Event #3, the $1500 NL Hold’em tournament. Any debate about the state of poker was dead and buried long before play got under way, when 2,998 players lined up to form the biggest non-Championship field in history. US DoJ officials take note: poker is in rude health.

With new events kicking off every day it was a relief to finally get the first winner out of the way, and wouldn’t you know it, another record went with it as well. Steve Billirakis, from Chicago, Illinois, already had over $200,000 of live cashes to his name when he sat down at the final table of this event, but at 21 years and ten days old, none of them had come inside the borders of the USA.

Up to the final table Greg “FBT” Mueller had been the story of this event, dominating Day One and putting in an even better performance on Day Two. Mueller brought his form onto the final table as well, surviving some harsh beats to make it to the heads-up stage with a slight chip lead over his 21-year-old opponent. There he used his experience in the Limit game to build a sizable lead over Billirakis, but just when it seemed that his first WSOP bracelet was coming his way the tide turned.

Billirakis took over the chip lead after hitting two consecutive full houses, and then sealed the win in an improbable hand. The two players got involved in a raising war before the flop that ended with Mueller being all-in. Aces versus kings? Not quite. When the cards were tabled it was Mueller’s 5d4d versus Billirakis’ K-2o. The board blanked out and the WSOP had its youngest ever winner.

The final table payouts were as follows:

1^st - Steve Billirakis – $536,287

2^nd - Greg 'FBT' Mueller – $328,554

3^rd - Tony George – $218,329

4^th - Steve Paul-Ambrose – $146,259

5^th - Fred Berger – $108,105

6^th - Roger McDow – $84,788

7^th - Kirk Morrison – $63,591

8^th - Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner – $46,633

9^th - John Younger – $33,915