Poker's 2007 Odyssey

The second half of 2007 was jam-packed with enough major poker tournaments to quench any poker player's thirst for action. With events taking place all around the world, professionals could potentially rack up more frequent-flyer miles than an international businessman. Big buy-in tournaments were spread from Manila to New Jersey, and were filled to the brim with players looking for that score of a lifetime.



For the first time in its 38-year history, the World Series of Poker held bracelet events outside the United States. Consequentially, the world was introduced to a young poker superstar named Annette Obrestad, who, at 19, became the youngest winner ever of a WSOP event; and she happened to win her bracelet in the main event held in London (please see the sidebar).



Back in the States, we got to watch Jonathan Little continue his breakout year by nearly pulling off a World Poker Tour exacta of winning two championship events in one year. He would have to settle for one victory and a runner-up finish to Scott Clements, who also continued his outstanding year with more cashes than he ever had in the past.



Recognizing Greatness

Yes, the future of poker is in good hands with these players, but two veteran superstars garnered poker's highest honor during the year. In July, Phil Hellmuth and Barbara Enright were inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, joining 33 other members that include Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Johnny Moss, Stu Ungar, Chip Reese, T.J. Cloutier, Puggy Pearson, and Wild Bill Hickok. Enright is the first woman ever to be inducted. At around that same time, Hellmuth crashed an UltimateBet racecar in the parking lot of the Rio, bruising nothing but his massive ego.



PokerStars made news when it announced the formation of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT). The first event was held in Manila in August. It attracted 255 players and was won by Brett Parise of the United Kingdom, who took home $179,775. Three more events would be held before the year was out.



PokerTek, a manufacturer of automated poker tables, released an arcade heads-up product that it intends to place in bars all across the land in July. The game has a WSOP theme, uses a video-game stick, and costs a few dollars per game. It's yet another example of how poker is making inroads nearly everywhere.



The World Poker Tour held its Bellagio Cup III championship in July, and the $10,000 main event attracted some of the biggest players who were knocked out early in the WSOP main event. Kevin Saul ended up beating 534 players, winning more than $1.3 million. Mike Matusow finished second for $671,320.



A Packed Slate

After the WSOP, players feasted on a slew of World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour, and WSOP Tournament Circuit events in the second half of 2007. The WPT alone held eight events from August until the new year, and it was at a WPT event in August that David "The Dragon" Pham took the Card Player 2007 Player of the Year lead with his runner-up finish at the Legends of Poker. He grabbed the lead from J.C. Tran, who had held it since the first quarter of the year, and has yet to relinquish it as we go to press with this issue. If he holds on, he will win his second Player of the Year award, as he also won it in 2000.



Dan Harrington was the winner of the WPT Legends of Poker championship, which was his only cash in 2007. It was a good one, though, as he outlasted 484 players and won just shy of $1.6 million.



Meanwhile, a Harvard professor and some of his students formed the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society, a university poker club that aims to promote poker as a teaching and learning tool throughout the world. The Society has popped up on campuses everywhere, and has held seminars on such topics as online poker, the World Trade Organization, and the history of the game. It also began to hold team heads-up poker matches between schools. The first took place in November between Harvard and Yale (who else?) during their football rivalry weekend. Harvard won 3-2.



The WPT made its first trip to Biloxi in early September for the Gulf Coast Poker Championship at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino. The event was won by Bill Edler, who had a fantastic year from start to finish. He was one of 256 players in the event, and he won $747,000.



The players who visited Biloxi saw a casino market that had almost completely recovered from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Two years after the disaster, the area is only two casinos shy of its pre-hurricane figure of 13. Casino revenues also have matched pre-Katrina levels, and the mayor of Biloxi said the casinos made the quick reconstruction of the town possible.



Poker Explodes Internationally

Poker's invasion of China began in August. World Poker Tour Enterprises, the folks behind the WPT, announced that it came to an agreement with the government-sanctioned China Leisure Sports Administrative Center (CLSAC) to promote, brand, and implement a national card game called Traktor poker through the new Traktor Poker Tour. WPTE will put on up to 15 Traktor Poker Tour competitions in provinces throughout China. The first event took place in September.



Traktor poker, also known as Tuo La Ji, pits teams of two against each other, similar to four-way gin. A double deck of 108 cards (jokers included) is used, and the players try to make tricks using tens and kings. The entire deck is dealt out in every hand. It's considered an official sport by the CLSAC, and Westerners have described it as a cross between bridge and gin.



The biggest international poker tournament of the year took place in September when the WSOP went to Europe to hold the first-ever bracelet events outside the United States.



WSOP Europe invaded London with three events: £2,650 H.O.R.S.E., £5,250 pot-limit Omaha, and the £10,000 no-limit hold'em main event, which made news around the world because it was won by 19-year-old Annette Obrestad, an online wunderkind who has been making huge splashes online for some time.



The £2,650 H.O.R.S.E. event was won by Thomas Bihl, a German player who displayed his spooky stare during the WSOP in Vegas this past summer. He outlasted 104 players and won $140,333. The £5,250 pot-limit Omaha event was won by Italian Dario Alioto. He was one of 165 entrants, and he took home $464,092. Jennifer Harman finished second in this event.



Also in London, the EPT held an event that attracted 392 players and was won by Joseph Mouawad. He won more than $1.1 million.



The second APPT event took place in Seoul, South Korea. The $2,500 event attracted 186 players and was won by 25-year-old Israeli Ziv Bachar. He banked $139,872.



Back Home in the States

In living rooms across America, High Stakes Poker returned for another season of high-stakes action. The usual gang of Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Eli Elezra, and others took on each other and an assembly of rich businessmen who could afford to pay for the thrill of losing gigantic pots to these legends. This season featured a game in which all of the players bought in for a minimum of $500,000. Doyle Brunson won the biggest pot shown on the TV show when he scooped $818,000 from Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte.



Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan, who began his poker career by playing micro-limits with friends at the University of Oklahoma before becoming an extremely successful online poker pro, won his first live big event when he took down the $5,000 WSOP Tournament Circuit event in Tunica, Mississippi. The event attracted only 138 players, but Morgan still won a very nice $216,852. It was Morgan's seventh cash of 2007, four of which came at WSOP events during the summer.



Back on the WPT trail, the Borgata Poker Open drew 560 entrants who vied for a spot in the limelight. The event was won by Roy Winston, who also had a fantastic year. This was Winston's first major title and it was good for more than $1.5 million. The prize pool in this event was more than $5.4 million. Winston would go on to win a $2,000 event at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic in December for another $230,000.



Five days after the Borgata Poker Open, players headed to Club Med for the Turks and Caicos Poker Classic. The $7,500 championship event was won by Rhynie Campbell, who took home a little more than $436,000.



A cheating scandal rocked the online poker world in October when players discovered that someone who had access to the back-end of Absolute Poker's software was sharing holecards with a partner. The security breach was discovered after players became suspicious of the player and asked for a hand history of a $1,000 tournament in which the cheater repeatedly made incredible calls and rolled through the field with ease.



Within the hand history was the IP address of an observer who stayed with the player the entire tournament. By tracing the IP address and the very low user number of the observer, players figured out that cheating had occurred. Absolute Poker eventually determined that cheating went on at the site for 40 days, starting this summer. Absolute Poker refunded hundreds of thousands of dollars to players because of this, revamped its security procedures, and agreed to submit to an audit by a casino security company.



October featured more big buy-in tournaments. PokerStars continued with its ambitious EPT schedule, and the WPT headed to Barcelona for the Spanish Championship, a $10,000 event that attracted 226 players and was won by Markus Lehmann ($762,540). Gus Hansen finished fifth in this event, and Erik Seidel missed the final table by two spots when he finished eighth.



Clements and Little Shine

Immediately after the WPT Spanish Championship, the WPT North American Poker Championship took place at Niagara Fallsview Casino. The $10,000 buy-in event attracted 504 players and was won by Scott Clements, who consistently played great poker in tournaments throughout the year. He won $1.45 million and enough Player of the Year points to thrust him near the top of the POY race. Clements cashed 10 times in 2007, made five final tables in events with various buy-ins, and won three of them. All of his paydays were worth six figures and higher, and he won more than $2.2 million in 2007.



In the same event, Jonathan Little was the runner-up. Like Clements, Little had a fantastic year. He chalked up $2.5 million in tournament winnings, cashed 15 times, finished in the top 10 eight times, and made three WPT final tables, winning one of them (the Mirage Poker Showdown in May). Before 2007, his largest cash was for $16,000, making 2007 truly his breakout year. The two players were rewarded for their success by being invited to join the Full Tilt Poker Team in November.



Two EPT events also took place in October – in Baden, Austria, and Dublin, Ireland. Julian Thew came out of the 282-player crowd in Baden to win $872,000, and Reuben Peters beat out 220 players to capture the EPT Dublin crown and its $745,668 prize.

October started with the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic, which had no TV poker tour associated with it, but it still managed to attract a healthy 548 entrants, generating a prize pool of $2.66 million. Travis Rice won $800,000 of that with his victory. A local man, Rice had a large cheering section sweating his every move.



Players in and around West Virginia saw two poker rooms there open for business after voters approved a referendum that allowed several slot parlors and racetracks to run casino games. The rooms instantly became a smash hit. In 2008, the rooms at Wheeling Island and Mountaineer racetracks will host tournaments and qualifiers for the WSOP.



In November, the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge at the Cherokee Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma, took place, and the "Poker Prince" himself nearly won it. As it was, a self-proclaimed "dinosaur" of the game, T.J. Cloutier, wound up besting 123 other players who competed in the $5,000 event. He won almost $241,000.



Cloutier had to get through several big-name pros at the final table, including Bill Edler, Gavin Smith, and Scotty Nguyen himself. Heads-up play came down to Cloutier and Ray Henson, who finished 12th in this year's World Series of Poker main event. Cloutier has more than 250 lifetime cashes.



The WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods attracted 575 players for its $10,000 championship event. Michael Vela won the event, and the $1.7 million prize was by far his biggest cash. He previously had cashed for $71,550 in November of 2006. Nick Schulman and Nenad Medic both made the final table, and Freddy Deeb finished ninth.



Bodog achieved a huge milestone in November, when it dealt its billionth hand.



The Borgata poker room made headlines all across the country for all of the wrong reasons when several of its employees were charged with helping to operate a mob-connected sportsbook out of the room. Authorities say that employees, including a manager, ignored large monetary exchanges at the tables. Atlantic City does not have sportsbooks, and it's illegal to accept wagers on sports in New Jersey.



The APPT continued with a stop in Macau, which is a special province of China and the world's largest casino market. The event took place at the Grand Waldo Casino and attracted 352 entrants. It was won by Dinh Le, and Joe Hachem and Liz Lieu both finished in the top 10.



The poker world lost one of its champions in the first week of December when David "Chip" Reese died on Tuesday, Dec. 4. Please see the cover story to read all about perhaps the greatest cash-game player in the history of the game. Reese was admired as much for the way that he balanced his family life and his professional life as he was for his poker skill. He will truly be missed by many.



Player of the Year Race Concludes

J.C. Tran – who started 2007 as strong as a bull and consequentially held the Player of the Year lead until the end of August, when David Pham became the leader – was still fighting in December. He put himself right back in contention (second place on the leader board) with a victory in a $5,000 no-limit hold'em event at the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, good for more than $523,000. Sully Erna, the lead signer of Godsmack and a poker aficionado, was the runner-up ($307,325).



Pham also did his best to put some distance between himself and the other Player of the Year competitors at the Five-Diamond. He too won a preliminary event, for $279,845, and ended up winning his second Player of the Year title. He won by a mere 814 points. J.C. Tran was the runner-up. Congratulations, David. A feature story on the Player of the Year award and David Pham will appear in Vol. 21/ No. 3.



There's no better way to close out the year than with a true classic of a poker event. The Bellagio WPT Doyle Brunson Classic, which caps off the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, did not disappoint. A total of 626 entrants each put up $15,000 to build a prize pool of a whopping $9,661,200.



Only the WSOP main event, with its massive field, and the $25,000 WPT World Championship generated larger prize pools than the Doyle Brunson Classic in 2007. The winner, Eugene Katchalov, received $2.48 million. The runner-up, Ted Kearly, also became a millionaire. He won $1.25 million.



Poker's never-ending odyssey will continue in 2008, and only time will tell who will be the next Scott Clements or Annette Obrestad. 2007 proved once again what a great and compelling game poker is, and 2008 most definitely has its work cut out for it.

Annette Obrestad Introduces Herself to the World

Wins First World Series of Poker Main Event Ever Held in London

By Bob Pajich



Annette Obrestad, the Norwegian teenager who had attracted a cultlike following because of her stunning online play for some time, went to London for the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe, and like a character in some fantasy novel about poker, she won the first main event held outside the United States – a day after she turned 19.



Obrestad made history in many ways when she won this event and its more than $2 million top prize. She outlasted 361 players, and because it was the first main event held outside the United States, the field was one of the strongest of the year.



Obrestad, who plays online under the name Annette_15, is famous online because of her unbelievable success, her gender, and her age. She claims that when she first started, she never made a deposit, building her bankroll from the small amounts that she won in freerolls.



Think of her age this way: Obrestad won't be able to legally play in the WSOP in Las Vegas until 2010.



Besides shattering the record for youngest poker player to win a WSOP bracelet by more than two years, she also passed Annie Duke as the woman with the most money won in WSOP events. Duke has won just over a million dollars. Obrestad also broke Duke's record for the largest tournament poker prize won by a woman (Duke won $2 million at the 2004 Tournament of Champions, an invitation-only event). Obrestad broke both records when she won the bracelet and $2,013,102 in London.



The buy-in for the WSOP Europe championship event was a whopping $19,800, thanks to currency exchange rates.



Two months after Obrestad won the WSOP Europe event, she went on to finish second in the European Poker Tour event in Dublin for another $416,920.



Earlier in 2007, Obrestad made Internet news when she played a $22 buy-in 180-player tournament without looking at her cards (she covered them with a piece of paper and admitted to peeking once during a critical all in). She wanted to show the importance of position and relentless pressure, which is her calling card, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that she won the event.



She's simply that good.

Poker Players Alliance Takes Fight to Washington in 2007

By Bob Pajich



Not much went on in the second half of 2007 as far proposed legislation regarding poker. Bills that would officially recognize poker as a skill game on a federal level or call for the United States to tax and regulate online gambling have stalled in congressional committees, and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which celebrated its one-year anniversary, still chugs along toward implementation.



The Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board finished writing proposed regulations that will be used to enforce the UIGEA. Once the proposed rules are solidified, the government will be able to use the UIGEA to go after banks and credit-card companies that continue to do business with online sites.



But the proponents of online poker are not letting this happen quietly. The Poker Players Alliance changed both leadership and location when John Pappas became the executive director and it moved its offices to Washington, D.C.



In October, the PPA held a "fly-in" to the nation's capital in order to connect its members with their legislators face to face and to hold a symposium in the halls of a congressional building that featured Pappas, Howard Lederer and others. The fly-in also was attended by Barry Greenstein, Annie Duke, Victor Ramdin, and Chris Ferguson, as well as nearly 100 PPA members from as far away as Alaska, who flew in at their own expense.



Duke would become a celebrated poker star, not for her play, but for her testimony at a House Judiciary hearing that was designed to inform members about online gambling. She punched and counterpunched beautifully with opponents of online gambling, who keep hammering home the same tired points: gambling destroys the fiber of the American family; online gambling promotes terrorism; online gambling is morally corrupt.



Congressional members are starting to listen to people like Duke, thanks to Antigua and its case against the U.S. via the World Trade Organization. In the second half of the year, the U.S. again postponed the date that the WTO had given it to finish negotiations regarding how much the U.S. owes Antigua in trade sanctions. The new date was in December, after Card Player went to press, and the only thing that's absolutely known is that the sanctions will deal with copyrighted material heading to Antigua.



Because of this case, the United States will face WTO sanctions from a handful of WTO members. This will all play out in 2008.