The World at our Feet

Reports of the demise of the World Series of Poker have been greatly exaggerated. While Las Vegas had previously been considered recession-proof, the sharp downturn experienced by the gambling mecca over the last year had many fearing for the health of the WSOP.

We needn’t have been so concerned. While it is still early days the numbers appear to be robust and the prize pools have been holding up.

While the $40,000 no-limit hold’em event may not have delivered on the numbers — just 201 players took to the felt — it made up for the shallow field with an above average quality final table comprising Ted Forrest, Noah Schwartz, Dani Stern, Lex Veldhuis, Alec Torelli, Justin Bonomo, Greg Raymer, and Isaac Haxton.

However it was Russian Vitaly Lunkin who took the prestigious honour, his second bracelet, and Europe’s first of the 57-event Series.

Elsewhere, more than 6,000 players turned out for the new $1,000 no-limit hold’em event, indicating the appetite for the game is still there, even if the bankrolls are not.

Thang Luu took down the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event for the second year in a row, a remarkable feat in itself, and all the more so for the fact that Irish player John O’Shea did the same thing at almost exactly the same time in the European Championship of Online Poker.

And of course there is the redoubtable Phil Ivey who, if rumours are to be believed, had millions of dollars in side bets riding on winning a bracelet — and boy, did he deliver. Not content with winning the no-limit deuce-to-seven draw lowball, he returned to the Rio a few days later and lifted the $2,500 Omaha eight-or-better/seven-card stud eight-or-better title.

Another major talking point early in the Series was Ville Wahlbeck whose fine third place performance in the $10,000 world championship stud event was put in the shade by his victory in the $10,000 world championship mixed event. As if winning Finland’s first bracelet wasn’t enough, Wahlbeck soon afterwards picked up his third world championship event final table cash in the $10,000 no-limit 2-7 lowball placing third.

Daniel Negreanu fell agonisingly short of a fifth bracelet, placing second to Brock Parker in the $2,500 limit hold’em six-handed; an event in which Card Player supremo Barry Shulman finished fifth. Parker would also go on to win a second bracelet.

The Brits started slowly but by the half-way mark of the Series had two new bracelet winners, J.P Kelly and Roland De Wolfe. The latter in the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event whose final table was almost half European in origin.

So overall, though the Series appeared less bloated and hyped perhaps than previous years, it lacked none of the human interest, with the main attraction yet to come — by the time you read this we’ll have our November Nine in the main event.

For all the gloom and doom of the last year, we can still rely on our beautiful game to give us heroes, villains, and drama aplenty — not even the recession can take that away.