A while back I did some posts on great moments from early on in the WSOP.  Well since there have been quite a few events since then, I’d like to sum up some of the positives and negatives that took place during the latest chapter to the WSOP story.

Positives:

1. Major charitable contributions from Jimmy Shultz and especially Eric Brooks

Poker is a tough game and money is never guaranteed.  That’s why it was so amazing when Eric Brooks and Jimmy Shultz decided to donate large portions of their winnings towards charity.  In the case of Brooks, the large portion was 100% of his $415,856 winnings and he donated this money to the Decision Education Foundation.  Shultz donated one-fifth of the $257,049 he won to the Charleston Fire Department which lost some men fighting a warehouse fire. 

2. John Phan and Erick Lindgren coming through in big ways

Before the 2008 WSOP, John Phan and Erick Lindgren were simply known as great poker players who’d never won a bracelet.  Things changed for John Phan when he won Event #29 of this year’s WSOP only to turn around again and win yet another event in the #40 which was a Triple Draw Lowball tournament.  Lindgren not only won his first bracelet in a Mixed Limit/ No Limit Hold’em game but he also won the Player of the Year honors after making three different final tables and almost making a fourth.

3. Biggest prize pool ever

For those who worried about the overall health of the WSOP since 2007 was a little down, worry no more!  That’s because this year’s WSOP had the most participants ever in 58,720 and the most money ever put in with $180,676,248. 

Negatives

1. Final table move means no closure in WSOP yet

The moving of the final table by the WSOP may be the greatest idea ever in terms of ratings and make poker more popular than ever in the long run.  But for right now, all we can say is that it is delaying the results of the most hyped part of the WSOP by almost four months.

2. Who are these people at the Main Event final table?

As mentioned before, the WSOP Main Event is the most hyped part of the whole deal and it’s kind of sad when only hardcore poker fans know the people who are participating in the final leg of it.  

3. Main Event champs performing horribly

Since there’s not much bad to say about the other 53 events that made this the biggest WSOP ever, I’ll just harp some more on Main Event-related topics.  You’d think people like Jerry Yang, Jamie Gold, Joe Hachem, and Greg Raymer would have developed some real poker skill by now since they’ve been playing quite a bit after their big Main Event victories.  But we’d all be wrong if we thought this as not a one of the four made any kind of splash in any event this year.  The closest thing was when Raymer went crazy when he finally cashed for the first time in 24 WSOP events after his Main Event win in 04′.

Back in June, the defeat of Massachusetts representative Barney Frank’s proposed bill to halt the strict UIGEA regulations marked a sad day for the world of online poker.  The 32-32 tie vote meant the bill was done for and this decision brought more regulations from the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve.  However, there may be some light on the horizon as the state of California is moving closer and closer to implementing legalized online poker. 

The proposal just recently passed through the California Senate Governmental Organization Committee and is on its way to the Senate Appropriations Committee in August.  The name of the bill is the California Gambling Control/Intrastate Online Poker Legalization Act and it seeks to legalize online poker gambling.

If it gets passed, the bill will take effect as quickly as July of 2009.  More importantly, if the bill makes its way through the California Senate, it would make California the first state in the US to legalize and run online poker for the people who live there.

Some people may have heard about this bill back in February when word of it first spread, however, this version of it is different in the fact that this is no longer a proposed study into online poker but instead an all-out plan to regulate and legislate legal Internet poker in the state.

And though this is just one state that is in the midst of legalizing online poker, it is the biggest state in terms of population in the US and would be a huge boost overall to the effort of getting online poker legalized in other places.  But if the legalization comes as proposed, it will also be interesting to see if this state-run brand of poker will be better or worse than the current method of international businesses running online poker.

In my last post, I discussed how the final nine players who made it to the WSOP final table really don’t have a whole lot of name recognition.  Probably the most popular player going into the final table that begins play on November 9th is David “Chino” Rheem who placed 5th in an earlier WSOP event.  Besides him, the list of people from what has been dubbed “The November Nine” ranges from semi-professional players to college students and accountants.   

But with three and a half months remaining before the final table festivities kick off, everyone knew we were going to get to know the November Nine sooner or later.  And already the human interest stories are starting to come forth as I just caught one today on the chip leader Dennis Phillips.

The Illinois native’s story began when he took a St. Louis baseball cap out to get signed by various star players only to have the tables turn when he became the chip leader when the Main Event play commenced.  Then Phillips was the one signing autographs as everyone wanted a piece of the little known truck sales manager.  Now, interestingly enough, Phillips is one of the more experienced players at the table.

Especially considering the fact that people like college student Craig Marquis are at the table. Marquis hasn’t even been playing poker for two years yet he’s primed to make at least $900,000 even if he busts out first.  Russian player Ivan Demidov doesn’t have a whole lot more experience than Marquis as he’s been playing for just over two years.

With some of the players that are still alive in the field, it almost seems to me as if the WSOP Main Event is edging its way to being more of a $10,000 quasi-lottery - with a lot better odds.  Sure you certainly have to possess some sort of poker skill to make it this far but with almost 7,000 players in the field, it’s difficult for any of the best Texas Hold’em players to make it to the final table.

Regardless of my opinions on the overall skill level of the final table participants, I still will be very interested to see how the final table finishes out and will definitely be tuning in.

In years past, there is normally at least one semi-big name player out of the final nine people who take the felt for the World Series of Poker Main event final table.  For instance, Lee Watkinson and Alex Kravchenko made the final table last year.  In 2006, it was Paul Wasicka and Allen Cunningham making it to the last table while Mike Matusow played his way into the Main Event final in 2005. 

Of course there were household names made out of these final tables as well such as Jerry Yang, Jamie Gold, and Joe Hachem when they won the Main Event.  And 2008 will certainly be no different as the winner will be taking home over $9 million when everything is said and done.  However, they won’t have to go though any big-time players to do it though.

That’s because the remaining nine people who will play out the final chapter to the 2008 Main Event are not well known by any means.  In fact, you’d have to be a pretty hardcore poker follower to recognize some of the names left.  Here is the list of the last few players left and it’s not exactly a who’s who of poker:

Seat 1: Dennis Phillips - 26,295,000
Seat 2: Craig Marquis - 10,210,000
Seat 3: Ylon Schwartz - 12,525,000
Seat 4: Scott Montgomery - 19,690,000
Seat 5: Darus Suharto - 12,520,000
Seat 6: Chino Rheem - 10,230,000
Seat 7: Ivan Demidov - 24,400,000
Seat 8: Kelly Kim - 2,620,000
Seat 9: Peter Eastgate - 18,375,000

Regardless of whether these people are well known or not, one thing that is assured is that these people are in for some major money.  Whoever finishes 9th (and it’s a strong bet to be Kelly Kim at this point) will take home nearly a million dollars at $900,670.  And as mentioned before, the prizes will be going all the way up to $9 million. 

Plus, with over 115 days left till the final table is played out, we’ll probably be hearing plenty about these nine before the actual contest kicks off.  I can’t wait to see how it plays out!

En lieu of certain poker shows being in limbo such as High Stakes Poker, it’s nice to see one show that is proving to be a main stay on network television.  NBC has decided to renew Poker After Dark for yet another season after its quality ratings called for the show to be brought back.  But there will be a twist to the fourth season of Poker After Dark. 

Possibly in an attempt to fill the void for High Stakes Poker (which may never be seen on TV again), Poker After Dark has decided to switch the successful format of deep stack tournament to high stakes cash games.  And things might be more exciting than ever with this new format.

That’s because the blinds are said to reach $200/$400 and the minimum buy-in for the episodes will be $100K to $250K.  Plus there are already highlights from the first episode out featuring stars like Phil Hellmuth and Tom “durrrr” Dwan in heated competition.

One can only imagine how interesting the table talk will be in this season of Poker After Dark with Hellmuth and Dwan involved.  Last time these two met in a NBC event they were exchanging quite a few comments with each other. 

Hellmuth kept calling Dwan “son” in saying things like, “Son, I would tell you this much, son.  I would never have put more than $3k in the pot with two tens before the flop.”  Dwan fired back saying, “I was gonna’ say good game, sorry for the suck out, but when you phrase it that way it makes me not wanna.  Phil, that’s why you lose money online.  Pick your stakes heads-up.  We can play right now if you want.”

With the new format and the interesting personalities like Dwan and Hellmuth at the table, it will be fun to see how this new season of Poker After Dark shakes out!