The WPT rolled back into Tunica, Mississippi for the 2007 World Poker Open. The tournament began on Sunday, January 21, 2007 at the Gold Strike Casino Resort and will run until the final table on January 25th. It is a no-limit Texas Hold’em style event with a buy-in of $10,000. 294 players entered for a total prize-pool worth $2.8 million with a first place prize being $904,574. The winner will also receive a seat into the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in April. The top 27 players will go home with cash in their pockets.
Scotty Nguyen won the 2006 World Poker Open earning $969,421. This was his first WPT title. Michael Mizrachi came in second and took home $566,352. Win a seat into the next WPT event by playing in a WPT satellite tournament at BodogPoker!
Many of the biggest names in the poker world decided to attend and they all appear to be in good spirits; which is a great combination for a tournament. Among some of the players are Kathy Liebert, Tom Schneider, Clan Mizrachi (Robert, Michael, and Eric), Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot, Chris Moneymaker, Robert Williamson III, Bill Edler, Gavin Smith, Hilbert Shirey, Ed Corrado, WSOPC Grand Tunica champ Dennis Perry, Raul Paez, Nam Le, Tuan Le, Daniel Negreanu, Len Ashby, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Eric Froehlich, Eric Cloutier, Huck Seed, John Juanda, Barry Greenstein, Frank Kassela, Allie Prescott, Eskimo Clark, Cyndy Violette, An Tran, Scotty Nguyen, Mark Seif, Darrell and Doug Dicken, Jason Sagle, Joe Tehan, Jason Stern, Don Mullis and Shannon Shorr. And of course there are always a few late arrivals as well. Phil Ivey finally showed up along with his fellow Full Tilter Carlos Mortensen. And then there is the crowd favorite Phil Hellmuth, but we have come to expect that of him.
Day 1
Many of the players who are in this tournament came from the Aussie Millions and they appear to be feeling the effects of all that travel, and it has reflected in their chip stacks. Kathy Liebert (9K), John Juanda (13K) and Phil Ivey (13K) are just a few of the players who are on the low end of their expected range. John Juanda is the only one who made it to day 2.
Cyndy Violette surged early to become the first player to break the 100k chip count with 115k. Vanessa Rousso was knocked with a-k. She made a big overbet on the turn when a k hit and Mark Seif called with k-j. A jack on the river came sending Rousso to the rail. Players with healthy chip stacks include; Mark Seif (87k), Barry Greenstein (70k) and Gavin Smith (65k). Greenstein and Smith are at the same table along with Allie Prescott and Scotty Nguyen to make up a lot of final table experience.
Day 1 chip leaders
Barry Greenstein 130,650 – Ed Ford 121,100 – Mark Seif 105,575 – Ernie Scherer 92,850 – John Racener 83,950
Day 2
The average chip stack to start the day off is 34.6k. Former WSOP champ Chris Moneymaker was the early exit on the day. Phil Hellmuth was acting like his old self, jumping out of his chair, in a hand where he outplayed himself. He muttered something about never raising his big pairs and it not working out too well for him. Gavin Smith dropped to 40k but picked it back up to 95k on a huge bluff. A few more great players were eliminated including Carlos "The Matador" Mortensen, Jeff Shulman, Cyndy Violette, John "The Razor" Phan, Scotty Nguyen and John Juanda.
And for the World to know: The tough and intimidating Phil Hellmuth has Beyonce Knowles' "Irreplaceable" as his ringtone.
After a short break, there is a new combination of players that can be accurately labeled “The Table of Death” which will for sure bring a lot of great action! In four consecutive seats we have Barry Greenstein (160K), Chau Giang (72K), JC Tran (170K), and Kido Pham (173K). Kido Pham took over the chip lead with 308k by hitting a straight on the river and knocking out Steve Tran. Phil Hellmuth and his buddy Hoyt Corkins are playing at the same table, they go way back to an unforgettable Foxwoods final table where Corkins had his way with Hellmuth, taking him to the cleaners. Victor Ramdin knocked out two players to take the chip lead with 400k. Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott and Eskimo Clark went at it when Eskimo hit runner-runner flush to send the Devilfish to the rail. Towards the end of day we saved the best for last. Courtesy of bluff magazine, fill in the blank:
"Why do you play so bad against me?" xxxxxxxx whined. "You're the worst player I've ever met, buddy."
You guessed it! That was Phil Hellmuth speaking to Hoyt Corkins as he cried all the way to the rail. Corkins called Hellmuth’s 9-9 all-in bet with A-6 clubs and hit runner-runner clubs for the winning flush.
That about raps up day 2 with 44 players left. They will play down to 27 players tomorrow.
Day 2 chip leaders
Kido Pham 585,000 – Victor Ramdin 504,000 – Hoyt Corkins 390,400 – John Racener 255,100 – Brian Sumner 243,200
