With 26 events now played the 2007 WSOP is almost at the half way stage. Although numbers have been slightly down on last year the Rio is still buzzing with thousands of poker players, and the overall feeling is definitely positive, especially for these lot:
Event #22: $5,000 NL Hold’em. James Mackey came out on top of one of the most exciting final tables of this year’s WSOP to claim the bracelet and the $730,740 first prize. In an insane period of play seven out of the nine final table players were eliminated during the second hour, leaving Stuart Fox to battle a 12:1 chip defecit against Mackey. Fox had played just one hand before the heads-up stage, and the next hand he played was his last, pushing all-in with K-4 but falling foul of Mackey’s T-2.
Event #23: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha. 576 players had a go at this one but right from the start there was one man that was head and shoulders above the competition. Scott Clements has completely dominated almost every event he has ever won, and this was no exception. He took the chiplead on day one and never relinquished it, finishing with his second bracelet in two years, and the $194,206 first prize.
Event #24: $3,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo. As expected a stellar cast came to the final table of this event, with Scotty Nguyen, Dutch Boyd, David Slansky, Thor Hansen and Eli Elezra the biggest of the big names. In the end it came down to an entertaining battle between 1998 WSOP Champion Scotty Nguyen and ‘Big Game’ regular Eli Elezra. With both players chugging beers and cocktails as if it were a wedding reception the atmosphere was electric, and Eli actually jumped onto the table when he caught the card that won him his first WSOP bracelet, the $198,984 first prize, and allegedly over half a million in side action.
Event #25: $2,000 NL Hold’em. Another massive field showed up for the most recent of the ever-popular NL Hold’em tournaments. 1,619 runners started out and by the time we were down to the final table almost all the recognisable faces were gone. Ben Ponzio eventually took down the $599,467 first prize, with David Hewitt finishing runner-up.
Event #26: $5,000 H.O.R.S.E. Just 192 players competed in this event as another pro-heavy field lined up for battle. Strangely the density of pros in the field didn’t translate into a star-studded final table, with only a few big names making it that far. Phil Ivey was one who did, following his earlier second place finish with a fourth place in this event. But it was the lesser known Ralph Schwartz who bettered all the well known pros to take down the bracelet, beating Bill Gazes to the $275,683 first prize.