The main event of the
World Series of Poker is the major reason that hard-core poker players and fans trek out to the desert for six weeks every summer. The main-event winner carries the title of undisputed champion of the poker world with him for the rest of the year. But, while the winner of the main event is in fact the main event of the summer, many other highlights that unfolded during the course of 55 poker tournaments are worthy of extra recognizition. During that time, many players further cemented their legacies, new faces emerged, and a few players overcame huge adversity just to compete. Welcome to the human drama that is the
WSOP and the top-10 moments outside of Jerry Yang winning the 2007 main event.
Editor's note: An in-depth recap of the main event and an interview with Yang can be found in Vol. 20/No. 16 of Card Player.
No. 1: Hellmuth Wins 11th Bracelet
The question on everyone's mind at the beginning of the summer was, who will win No. 11 first? The media and players debated, while it was on the tip of every fan's tongue. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Hellmuth all had 10 bracelets to their name entering the 2007
WSOP, and only one would emerge from the desert with 11. That man was Hellmuth. He won his record-setting bracelet in a $1,500 no-limit hold'em event in dominant fashion. He beat a field of 2,628 players to prove to the world that he is the best large-tournament-field hold'em player the game has ever seen.
Brunson and Chan were by no means sitting quietly by while Hellmuth had all the fun. Both of these legends had a number of cashes during the summer, and each time they got closer and closer to a final table, you could see the excitement build along the rail and throughout the tournament field. Chan came out of the gates the quickest of the three and finished in 31st place in event No. 1, the mixed hold'em world championship. He came even closer a few days later when he finished in 18th place in the world championship of seven-card stud. His last cash came in event No. 23, a pot-limit Omaha event in which he finished in 20th place. Chan made a quick exit from that tournament after his elimination; the few thousand dollars he had just won was a small consolation prize in the face of coming so close to making history. Brunson cashed twice during the
Series, but he came very close to catching the "Poker Brat" when he made the final table of event No. 50, the world championship of pot-limit Omaha. He finished in sixth place at that final table, and could not add an 11th bracelet to his collection, either. While Chan and Brunson made things interesting, Hellmuth can claim sole possession of the career bracelets title for one whole year, and we all will hear about that fact repeatedly from the champion himself.
Editor's note: An in-depth interview with Hellmuth about his victory can be found in Vol. 20/No. 14 of Card Player.
No. 2: Freddy Deeb Wins $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
The H.O.R.S.E. world championship, which has become the players' championship, further cemented its legacy in its sophomore season. The top players in the world gathered to fight it out in a mixed-game format of hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better, razz, seven-card stud, and seven-card stud eight-or-better to decide which one of them was the best all-around poker player. Unlike last year's all no-limit hold'em final table, this year, the final table played out in the mixed-game format. In the end, Freddy Deeb pulled off an amazing comeback in a threehanded war with Bruno Fitoussi and John Hanson. He took home $2,276,832 and the respect of poker professionals worldwide with the win.
Editor's note: An in-depth recap of the H.O.R.S.E. world championship can be found in Vol. 20/No. 15 of Card Player.
No. 3: Katja Thater Wins $1,500 Seven-Card Razz Event
Katja Thater emerged from a field of 341 players, most of whom were men, to win a gold bracelet, and in doing so, she won the first bracelet by a woman in an open-field event in three years (Cyndy Violette, Kathy Liebert, and Annie Duke all won a bracelet in 2004). Thater took home $132,653 and became a member of team PokerStars soon after the victory. She beat an impressive final table that featured Eskimo Clark and Mark Vos, among others. Her victory was a big step forward for women poker players everywhere.
Thater's win was the punctuation mark on a summer that was very good for women players, who represent only a small percentage, usually between 2 percent and 4 percent, of tournament-field contestants. Erica Schoenberg and Beth Shak came very close to winning bracelets of their own, while the ladies event attracted a record 1,286 players. Another highlight for women players was the induction of Barbara Enright into the Poker Hall of Fame. Enright has won three gold bracelets and is the only woman to play at the final table of a
WSOP main event. Maria Ho came closest to the 2007 main-event final table, but she was eliminated in 38th place. While all of these accomplishments were landmark achievements for women, the gold bracelet of Thater stands out.
No. 4: Hal Lubarsky Finishes in the Money in the Main Event
While cashing in the main event is not an extraordinary achievement (621 players can claim that achievement this year), the way that Hal Lubarsky accomplished it was extraordinary. Lubarksy, who is legally blind, outlasted more than 6,000 people to finish in 193rd place on day four of the main event. This achievement shows poker's ability to unify and allow people from every walk of life to compete. Lubarsky could not rely on his opponents' body language; he had access to only his opponents' betting patterns, as well as the range of hands that they play from certain positions. Even then, that information had to be whispered into his ear. Lubarsky's achievement is one of a remarkable person who overcame almost impossible odds, and it was only fitting that he was introduced to the crowd and cheered loudly on the day of the final table. Poker is a game of making decisions with incomplete information. Lubarsky has to make his poker decisions with even less information than the rest of us have available, and it is for that reason that we honor him here.
No. 5: Erik Seidel Wins Eighth Bracelet at the Strongest Final Table of the Series
Erik Seidel climbed to fourth place on the all-time bracelet list when he won the $5,000 no-limit deuce-to-seven draw lowball (with rebuys) event, which was the final bracelet event of the
Series before the main event. Seidel's eighth gold bracelet ties him with the legendary "Grand Old Man of Poker" Johnny Moss on the career bracelet list. This tournament always attracts one of the most impressive tournament fields of the
Series, and 2007 was no different. By the time the dust had settled and the final table was set, it was the toughest of the
Series. Seidel had to outlast Todd Brunson, Freddy Deeb, Andrew Black, Lamar Wilkinson, Shahram "Sean" Sheikhan, and Chad Brown in order to take home his bracelet. Seidel now sits just two bracelets behind Brunson and Chan, and three away from Hellmuth on the all-time list.
No. 6: Allen Cunningham Wins Fifth Bracelet in a Great Heads-Up Battle With Jeffrey Lisandro
Allen Cunningham followed in the footsteps of the aforementioned Seidel by winning a
WSOP bracelet for the third year in a row. Seidel was the last person to accomplish the feat from 1992 to 1994. Cunningham's accomplishment was all the more impressive, though, due to the large tournament fields he has had to overcome in the past three years (2005, 2,305 players; 2006, 752 players with 1,670 rebuys; and 2007, 398 players - compared to the field sizes of Seidel's bracelets, 1992, 168 players; 1993, 94 players; and 1994, 105 players).
Cunningham also had to deal with a very tough heads-up opponent to win his fifth bracelet, in the $5,000 pot-limit hold'em world championship. He battled for nearly two hours with Jeffrey Lisandro before emerging victorious. Allen became the third-youngest player to win five bracelets (behind Phil Ivey and Hellmuth), and now is tied for the most bracelets won in the new millennium (Johnny Chan, Ivey, and Chris Ferguson all have five, as well, since 2000). Another year, another bracelet for Cunningham, and another reassurance for poker fans everywhere that he is one of the best tournament poker players in the world today.
No. 7: Steve Billirakis Becomes Youngest Bracelet Winner Ever
Move over Jeff Madsen, there's a new kid in town. Steve Billirakis won the first event of the
Series, the $5,000 mixed hold'em world championship, at the age of 21 years, 10 days. Billirakis was 25 days younger than Madsen was when he broke Eric Froehlich's record last year.
Billirakis had been waiting for the moment he would turn 21 and could enter the world of live tournament poker. He has played for years online, as "MrSmokey1," and has cashed for more than $600,000. He made the final table of the PokerStars
Sunday Million twice, and won the large online weekly event in May. When he came of age in June, he seized opportunity by the throat in the first event of the
WSOP, much the way he has online.
This is the fourth year in a row that this record has fallen, and now that the window of opportunity is a mere 10 days, the record should stand for quite some time. It also should not be overlooked that Billirakis had to overcome Greg "FBT" Mueller to capture the bracelet. Madsen himself even made an appearance to offer some congratulatory words and advice after Billirakis had wrapped up the victory and the record.
No. 8: Main-Event Final Table an International Affair
The Eccentrics Club from Ireland made the first sustained international inroads to the
WSOP in the early 1980s. In fact, nine of the 108 players in the field of the 1983
WSOP main event were Irish. Players from 16 countries played in the 1983 main event. That was a far cry from the Texas road gamblers' reunion that started it all, but even further from where things headed in 2007. Day four of the main event started with 337 players remaining, and almost a quarter of those players came from outside the borders of the United States. Twenty-seven different nations were still represented at this late stage of the tournament, which shows just how popular the game of poker has continued to get worldwide, and just how diverse the game has become.
At the final table, it was more of the same, and one only had to look around the room to confirm this fact. The flags of South Africa, Canada, Denmark, and the United States danced across the crowd. The final table featured Raymond Rahme from South Africa, Alex Kravchenko from Russia, Lee Childs from the United States, Jerry Yang, who lives in California and was born in Laos, Lee Watkinson from the United States, Tuan Lam, who lives in Canada and was born in Vietnam, Philip Hilm, who currently resides in England and was born in Denmark, Jon Kalmar from England, and Hevad "Rain" Khan from the United States. The poker world has often been referred to as a melting pot, and it was boiling to the brim this year at the
WSOP.
No. 9: Big-Name Professionals Win Their First Bracelets
Eli Elezra, Jeffrey Lisandro, Robert Mizrachi, Bill Edler, Ram Vaswani, Blair Rodman, Chris Reslock, and Fred Goldberg gladly joined the club of players who have won a
WSOP gold bracelet. The win was even sweeter for Elezra, who also won a $250,000 prop bet with Barry Greenstein as a result of his victory. Inasmuch as tournament fields continued to grow in many of the preliminary events at the 2007
WSOP, these players will likely cherish their victories even more as bracelets become harder and harder to win. Many of these players had come close to
WSOP victories before, and in some cases lost heads-up battles to have gold slip right through their fingers. 2007 will be remembered as the year when all of these players sealed the deal, and gladly took their names out of the argument of the best player never to win a gold bracelet. Many players still remain in that argument, of which Patrik Antonius, J.C. Tran, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, and Erick Lindgren are some of the most prestigious.
No. 10: Honorable Mentions - The Best of the Rest
The best players rise to the occasion when they are playing against the best competition in the world. David Singer is one of those players who steps up his game when he plays against the best. In 2007, for the second year in a row, Singer made the final table of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship. Although he finished sixth in both 2006 and 2007, he had to fight his way through the two toughest tournament fields in history to achieve those historic consecutive finishes.
Kenny Tran finished deep in arguably the two most important poker tournaments of the year. His fourth-place finish in the H.O.R.S.E. event and 14th-place finish in the main event should not be overlooked. Tran already was a respected cash-game player in California before he came to the WSOP, and now he has some tournament success to go along with that respect.
Alex Kravchenko also played exceptionally well in this Series, with a bracelet win in the $1,500 Omaha eight-or-better event and a fourth-place finish in the main event.
Michael Binger proved that it was no fluke that he found his way to the 2006 main-event final table by cashing eight times in 2007.
Humberto Brenes made appearances at three final tables, and for the second year in a row, he finished in the top 100 of the main event, placing 83rd. To finish in the top 100 of the two largest poker tournaments in history is a distinction unto itself.
Faces of the 2007 World Series of Poker
The Stories of Some of the Players Who Defined the Summer
During the course of the summer, faces emerge from the crowd to distinguish themselves through their
World Series of Poker accomplishments.
Card Player presents a handful of players who added to their poker resumes this summer.
Tom Schneider
By Seth Niesen
This year, 47-year-old Arizona native Tom Schneider used the
World Series of Poker to emerge as one of the best mixed-game players in the world. He won two bracelets, one in the $2,500 Omaha/seven-card stud eight-or-better event and the other in the $1,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better tournament. He also made the final table of the $2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, finishing in fourth place.
Card Player caught up with Schneider shortly after the
WSOP:
Seth Niesen: How did you get into poker?
Tom Schneider: I started playing with my mom when I was 10 years old. Soon afterward, she took a job and I would get paid $5 a day to baby-sit. I would have my friends come over every day and we would play while I watched my baby sister.
SN: What games did you play?
TS: We played a game called guillotine, which played a lot like seven-card stud high-low split, but the pot was split three ways - high, low, and the low diamond in the hole. We also played a game called buck, and some regular seven-card stud, as well.
SN: Did playing all of those split-pot and mixed-game variations back then help you become a successful player now?
TS: Definitely. Many of the players who come up today have just learned hold'em, and they don't have experience in other games. I try to play games that most people haven't read books on or don't know very well, games in which your card senses play a bigger role because people don't know how to play.
SN: You were successful in the business world prior to poker; can you tell us a little about that and how the two are related?
TS: Well, I think you can put "successful" in quotation marks (laughing). At the top of my business career, I was the president of a public golf company, and we were profitable in my 10-year tenure. I wrote a book titled
Oops! I Won too Much Money: Winning Wisdom From the Boardroom to the Poker Table. It talks about the lessons I learned through business, family, and poker. It's about how they all weave together, and has a pretty humorous twist.
SN: What does being the top-ranked player at this year's
WSOP mean to you?
TS: It means to me what an Oscar would mean to an actor. The award is recognition by your peers that you have achieved a high level of success. It's more important to me to be recognized as a decent player among the people who play poker than the people who watch it on TV.
SN: How has your wife Julie helped you succeed?
TS: She is my biggest fan and biggest critic, all at the same time. She is 100 percent supportive of what I do in poker. And she was the one who encouraged me to quit my job in the corporate world and play poker full time. She was a poker dealer for 17 years, and always thought I was a pretty good player and should take a stab at it. In terms of poker, she thinks I'm my own worst enemy, and if I get out of line, she is right there to rein me back in. During the World Series, at one of the final tables, I lost a pot and was getting out of line. She noticed it and yelled, "That's not what you do." I refocused, and then when I won the next pot, she yelled, "That's what you do, baby!" and that phrase kind of caught on, especially with my friends who give me a hard time about it.
You can catch more from Tom Schneider by checking out his podcast, Beyond the Table at www.Beyondthetable.com.
Scott "Big Riskky" Clements
By Julio Rodriguez
Just a few years ago, then 23-year-old Scott Clements was working as a mortgage broker in Mt. Vernon, Washington. But, a natural talent for cards and an aggressive nature at the tables would soon propel him to a new profession, where success and fortune would come early and often.
Despite being relatively new to the game, Scott has amassed a resume that would make any veteran of the game jealous. In 2005, he captured his first live-tournament victory with a win on the
World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit at Lake Tahoe. The next year, Scott would make his second appearance at the
World Series of Poker and garner his first bracelet, in an Omaha eight-or-better event. He would later solidify his professional status with another win, this time at the
World Poker Tour Canadian Poker Open in Niagara Falls. This year's
WSOP was just as successful for Scott, as he cashed four times, made two final tables, and won his second bracelet.
Card Player recently sat down with the young millionaire, who is currently 12th in this year's
Card Player Player of the Year race.
Julio Rodriguez: Tell us about how you got started in poker?
Scott Clements: My start was in home games. Basically, the usual eight players quickly grew into 40 or 50 at least once or twice a week. We started out playing pretty low, but then had the occasional bigger buy-ins, and eventually we even had a player of the year race.
JR: What about playing online? Did this help at all in your development?
SC: My success online came right from the beginning. I have deposited money only one time ($100), and have since built that up to a nice chunk of change. I go by the nickname "BigRiskky" online. My home-game buddies gave it to me because of my aggression at the table while still learning the game. Currently, I play a bit online, but my main focus from now on is going to be on the tournament circuit.
JR: Two
WSOP bracelets, a
Circuit event title, and a
WPT win. Which one means the most to you?
SC: My best win was probably in Niagara Falls. I really think I didn't make any mistakes there. I played two tournaments in that casino and I was all in only twice, once with the nut straight and the other in an aces-versus-kings situation. But the bracelets mean the most to me. My favorite time of the year is during the
WSOP. I really think it is the time for all poker players to prove who they are, and that they can compete at the highest level.
JR: You had an interesting prop bet with Mike "The Mouth" Matusow. Care to share the details?
SC: I have heard Mike talk about himself, claiming to be the best Omaha eight-or-better player in the world. I challenged him to prove it with a $5,000 bet on all of the eight-or-better events. He went deep in the championship event, and won the bet. Next year I will challenge him again, although I hope they will add a second pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better tournament, because that is my best game.
JR: You are currently in 12th place in the
Card Player Player of the Year race, and only 1,600 points away from current leader J.C. Tran. How important is winning the award to you?
SC: Last year I finished 59th, so I'd definitely like to improve on that. As for winning it all, I don't know. There's a lot of poker left to play, and anything can happen.
Frankie O'Dell
By Andy Liakos
Frankie O'Dell won his first gold bracelet in 2003, in an Omaha eight-or-better tournament, and this summer he won his second bracelet, once again in an Omaha eight-or-better event. With this victory, he claimed his spot as one of the best Omaha eight-or-better players in the world. O'Dell has found success in other games, as well. He won a no-limit hold'em event in The Venetian's
Deep-Stack Extravaganza II and placed second in the $10,000 no-limit hold'em championship of the 2006
World Poker Tour Legends of Poker tournament.
Card Player interviewed O'Dell as the
World Series of Poker came to a close.
Andy Liakos: One bracelet is a near impossible feat, but multiple bracelets can turn an extraordinary man into a legend. What does this second bracelet tell the world about Frankie O'Dell?
Frankie O'Dell: The first bracelet will always be the special one, and it will always mean the most. It's the first time that they call you a champion, and in 2003, I was the number-one player in the world (referring to the Card Player Omaha standings). You put the gold bracelet on and people are patting your back and congratulating you for being the world champion. The feeling of that is second to none. The second bracelet just means that I was meant to be the world champion.
AL: You're 2-0 at
WSOP final tables; what does that mean for your opponents?
FO: I play to win, and when I'm at the final table, it's like a boxing match. I'm not trying to make any friends there. I'm coming in focused, and I'm trying to feed my kids. It feels good to know that when I get there in Omaha eight-or-better, I don't think there's anyone in the world who can beat me.
AL: When did you know that you were meant to achieve greatness as a professional poker player?
FO: I started playing poker with my dad when I was a young kid, so I've been playing for a while now. I started playing for money when I was 13 years old. My dad took me to the
World Series tournaments when I was a little kid, and I used to watch him play at Binion's. I remember thinking how great it would feel to be called a world champion. Even at a young age, I understood what that title meant, and that's when I decided that I would become a professional.
AL: When we talk about the greatest Omaha players in the game, we often mention Mike Matusow along with you in the same breath. You and Mike go back a long time; how has your relationship with him contributed to your own success?
FO: Everybody knows Mike "The Mouth," and I consider him one of my homies, as well as my coach. My father showed me the basics of the game and how to play really solid, but Mike taught me some very special techniques that not too many people know, or can even understand, for that matter. I have two bracelets on my wrist and I have to credit both Mike and my father for that. Although I can credit them for my success, I have to dedicate this victory in memory of my children's mother, Natisha Sisneros.
It has been a bittersweet year for Frankie O'Dell. He lost a dear friend and the mother of his children when his former girlfriend, Natisha Sisneros, was murdered. Due to these unfortunate circumstances, Frankie has set up a memorial fund, and all donations can be made payable to the Natisha Sisneros-Gallegos Memorial Fund. Contributions can be mailed to the Denver Community Federal Credit Union, 1075 Acoma St., Denver, CO 80204, or pledged by phone at (303) 573-1170.
Rafi Amit
By Erik Fast
Rafi means high or exalted in Arabic. Amit means upright and friendly in Hebrew. Israeli poker player Rafi Amit has lived up to his name. He has won two
World Series of Poker bracelets and played in some of the highest-limit cash games in the world, yet he remains friendly and approachable. Perhaps his level head is due to the fact that he began playing at the smallest limits only five years ago. On a short trip to Las Vegas, he decided to sit down in a $4-$8 game. He quickly realized that poker was a game that could be profitable for him if he invested the time and effort to learn how to play well. Within three years, he had won his first bracelet, taking down the 2005
WSOP $10,000 pot-limit Omaha event. He followed up his initial success by making the final table of the same event in 2006, and he also cashed in four other events. Amit capped off his three-year streak by winning the deuce-to-seven triple-draw lowball event at this year's
WSOP.
Card Player caught up with Amit to discuss his meteoric rise to the upper echelon of tournaments and cash games.
Erik Fast: So, you have had a very good run the past three years at the
WSOP, most recently winning the triple-draw lowball event. Do you have a lot of experience playing deuce-to-seven or is it something you just picked up recently?
Rafi Amit: The last couple of years, I have played it in the mixed games. When I'm in Las Vegas, I play the mixed games, either limit or no-limit. My first year, I played limit hold'em, and then I started to learn Omaha eight-or-better. After a while, some people told me there was good action in Tunica, and I went there. I almost went broke in the first two weeks, but after a while, I started picking up some of the things that separate winning players from losing players, and I started to do well. I started playing online in the cash games and got a bit lucky to get where I am now.
EF: You're probably not just lucky. You put in an incredible back-to-back performance, winning the 2005 $10,000 pot-limit Omaha event and placing fourth in the same event last year.
RA: I'm so sad about this year. I was in the final of the deuce and had to give up on my chips in the other tournament. The deuce-to-seven was scheduled as a two-day event. I had been dreaming about doing well in the pot-limit Omaha event - literally dreaming, not just daydreaming - but because the deuce ran over, I didn't really have a chance. Now I know to keep my schedule free for it next year.
EF: Out of the seven cashes you've made in the past few years, five have been in Omaha events. Is there any secret to tournament Omaha, or some skill set that you possess that others don't?
RA: A lot of luck. No, I'm just kidding. I like to play Omaha more than hold'em because it's more complicated. You can make more plays, and not as many people play as well as they play hold'em. In all of those events, I was running good, but I also was very focused - more so than I am when I play hold'em.
Bill Edler
By Alex Baer
Bill Edler has been a regular on the tournament circuit since 2005. He is considered one of the kindest players, but what many may not know is that he is also one of the fiercest competitors. In the $5,000 buy-in shorthanded no-limit hold'em tournament, he outlasted 727 other players to claim his first bracelet and score his biggest cash ever, $904,672. Going to the final table, Edler was next to the last on the totem pole, and had some tough opponents to contend with, including Gioi Luong, bracelet winner Dutch Boyd, Alex Bolotin, and Erik Friberg, the eight-place finisher in the 2006 main event. The road to victory would not be easy, but Edler navigated the trail with incredible ease.
Edler believes that the key to success in shorthanded play is aggression. "Your opponents are less likely to have anything; therefore, you should loosen up your starting-hand criteria and apply pressure more often," said Edler.
Edler came into the
WSOP with some impressive results for the year, including a big win in the
Heads-Up Championship at Crystal Park Casino. He also had top-10 finishes at back-to-back
World Poker Tour events: He finished on the TV bubble in seventh place at the
L.A. Poker Classic, and followed that up with a sixth-place finish at the Bay 101
Shooting Star.
Edler views victory to be more important than winning a bracelet. He said, "If 55 bracelets are handed out every year, winning a bracelet doesn't automatically define you as a great poker player." Being a bracelet winner is "not as exclusive a club anymore."
Many people place emphasis on the number of "cashes" that a player has, which are not the results that satisfy Edler. He stated, "If you play poker for money, you shouldn't be playing tournament poker; stick to cash games. I play tournaments because I enjoy the competition, and I play to win."
Edler capped off his 2007
WSOP with a remarkable run in the main event. He played stellar poker for six straight days and made it to the final three tables. He was eliminated in 23rd place. Always the aggressor, he pushed all in from early position with 10-9 offsuit, and nearly moved the player in the big blind off A-K suited. Edler earned $333,490 for his efforts, taking his total winnings this year at the
WSOP to more than $1.2 million. Edler's poker prowess is undeniable, and we certainly haven't heard the last of him.
