BJ Nemeth

Публикации - Юни, 1, 2008

• Event #1 - Player Bios by Change100

  Юни 01, 2008

  Change100 is one of the experienced PokerNews reporters who has been covering Event #1 ($10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em) from the start, and she wrote some fantastic bios for the final nine players. To save you the effort of digging through the live updates, Change100 gave me permission to reprint them below.

  Also, Gene Bromberg (who writes for PokerNews under the screenname "MeanGene") reports that last night, Mike Sexton pointed out that there were four players at the final table who have won at least $1 million in a single tournament. Here they are, with their million-dollar paydays (listed in descending order based on their prize and how long ago they won):

  Nenad Medic
  2006 WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals
  1st place - $1,717,194

  Andy Bloch
  2006 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event
  2nd place - $1,029,600

  Kathy Liebert
  2002 PartyPoker Million
  1st place - $1,000,000

  Mike Sexton
  2006 WSOP Tournament of Champions
  1st place - $1,000,000

  Amazingly, those four finished in exactly that order: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively. Now for the final table bios.

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  Final Table Bios for Event #1 ($10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em)
  by Change100

  Seat 1 - Mike Sowers
  Started: 675,000 in chips
  Finished: 8th place ($99,264)

  Known as "SowersUNCC" online, 21 year old Mike Sowers hails from Charlotte, NC. A prolific online player, Sowers won a combined total of $319,000 from four separate tournament wins last July-September with victories in the limit hold'em WCOOP $1,050 buy-in event on Poker Stars, the $1,060 $250K guarantee on Poker Stars, the $109 rebuy on Poker Stars, and the $1K Monday on Full Tilt. His largest live cash came when he beat Tom "durrrr" Dwan heads-up to win the $5,000 NLHE event at the Borgata Winter Open this past January for a $399,000 score. Most recently, he cashed in 17th place at the EPT San Remo. This is Sowers' first WSOP final table.

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  Seat 2 - Chris Bell
  Started: 455,000 in chips
  Finished: 6th place ($157,168)

  A professional poker player from Raleigh, NC, Chris Bell came into the public eye in 2005 with his final table appearance at the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown where he finished 3rd. He's no stranger to a star-studded final table, having finished 5th in last year's $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 event which boasted a lineup that included Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Annie Duke, David Benyamine and 2007 WSOP POY Tom Schneider. This is Bell's 6th WSOP cash and his second final table.

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  Seat 3 - Amit Makhija
  Started: 525,000 in chips
  Finished: 5th place ($198,528)

  Known online as "amak316", 23 year-old Amit Makhija comes to the WSOP from Brookfield, Wisconsin. Primarily an online player specializing in high-stakes heads-up sit-n-goes, Makhija has also enjoyed tournament success, winning the Poker Stars $109 rebuy multiple times. Most recently, he cashed in 20th place at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. This is Makhija's first WSOP final table.


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  Seat 4 - Patrik Antonius
  Started: 230,000 in chips
  Finished: 7th place ($124,080)

  Don't hate him because he's beautiful. Blessed with model looks, former tennis champion Patrik Antonius comes into today's final table as the short stack, but I don't think anyone would dare count him out. Antonius dominates nosebleed stakes cash games both live and online and has cashed 10 times at the WSOP. Antonius made the final table of last year's $10,000 World Championship pot-limit Omaha event where he finished 3rd. Residing in Monte Carlo, Monaco with his girlfriend Maya and his baby daughter Mila, Antonius is also makes frequent appearances on NBC's Poker After Dark. Antonius just announced a deal with Full Tilt Poker earlier today, becoming the 14th member of Team Full Tilt.

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  Seat 5 - Andy Bloch
  Started: 2,115,000 in chips
  Finished: 2nd place ($488,048)

  Andy Bloch is smarter than you will ever be. He attended MIT, where he was a member of their infamous blackjack team and graduated from Harvard Law School to boot. Bloch's biggest splash at the World Series was his runner-up finish to Chip Reese in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament in 2006 after the longest heads-up battle in the history of the WSOP. He also finished 2nd in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and finished 3rd in the recent Full Tilt Poker $25,000 Heads-Up World Championship. With over $3.2 million in career earnings, this is Andy's 6th final table at the WSOP and he's going for his first bracelet today. Bloch goes into the final table as the runaway chip leader and... it's his birthday!


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  Seat 6 - Mike Sexton
  Started: 1,130,000 in chips
  Finished: 4th place ($248,160)

  Mike Sexton has been one of the most instrumental figures in the poker boom, from consulting for Party Poker in the early days of the online game, to helping develop the idea World Poker Tour on a boat in the middle of the Amazon with Steve Lipscomb and Linda Johnson. Sexton won the 2006 WSOP Tourament of Champions for $1 million and gave half of it to charity without batting an eye. With 43 WSOP cashes, 19 final tables and one bracelet in seven card stud, Sexton is the grizzled veteran of this formidable group of poker players. In a previous life, he was also a champion ballroom dancer.


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  Seat 7 - Phil Laak
  Started: 424,000 in chips
  Finished: 9th place ($74,448)

  Phil "The Unabomber" Laak first burst onto the televised poker scene with his hooded sweatshirt and wacky table antics on his way to winning the 2004 WPT Invitational. He also finished 2nd to Johnny Chan in the $2,500 PLHE event in 2005, where Chan captured his tenth bracelet. With 6 WSOP cashes, this is Laak's second WSOP final table. Though he's a familiar face on the tournament circuit, Laak specializes in high-stakes NLHE cash games and even had his own TV show, MOJO network's "I Bet You" co-starring his best friend, Antonio Esfandiari. He's hoping to take home his first bracelet today to match the one his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Tilly sports from her win in the 2005 WSOP Ladies' Event.


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  Seat 8 - Nenad Medic
  Started: 1,200,000 in chips
  Finished: 1st place ($794,112)

  Often the most imposing figure at the table in terms of his sheer size, 6'5 Nenad Medic was a college basketball star in his native Canada. As the legend goes, he parlayed a $75 online deposit into more than $100,000 in winnings. Medic made his first televised final table when he finished 6th at the 2005 Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure. In November 2006, he won the WPT Foxwoods for $1.7 million, besting a final table that included one of his opponents today-- Kathy Liebert, who finished 5th. Foxwoods has been good to Medic-- he returned to the same event one year later and finished 3rd for a $483,000 payday. This is his 4th WSOP cash and his first final table.


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  Seat 9 - Kathy Liebert
  Started: 285,000 in chips
  Finished: 3rd place ($306,064)

  Kathy Liebert has made a living playing tournament poker for well over a decade and is #1 on the all-time womens money list with over $4.4 million in earnings. She won her first WSOP bracelet in 2004 in the $1,500 limit hold'em shootout after coming in second in two previous tries. With 23 WSOP cashes,this is Liebert's 7th final table at the World Series. She is also one of the most successful women on the World Poker Tour with 3 televised final tables.

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• Event #1 Final Table - Will It Get Any Better Than This?

  Юни 01, 2008

  The first final table of the 2008 World Series features an incredible lineup with famous faces and top professionals. There was a waiting line for fans to get in to watch the final table, and the Milwaukee's Best balcony bar was nearly packed to capacity.

  I removed my media pass for a while so Maria Ho and I could watch the action from the stands. (For those who don't remember, Maria was the deepest-finishing female in last year's Main Event.) Curiously, it was the first time since 2004, that I watched a WSOP final table from the stands rather than Media Row, and it seemed like an entirely new experience to me. Instead of focusing 100% on the action and getting every bet and card suit accurate, I could relax and enjoy the atmosphere.

  As you'd expect, there were quite a few recognizable faces in the audience, including Linda Johnson (rooting for Mike Sexton?), Erick Lindgren and Gavin Smith (rooting for Chris Bell?), and Allen Kessler (rooting for Kathy Liebert). When I first noticed Allen, I wondered who he managed to swap points with -- he has an uncanny ability to get some top players to swap percentage points with him. Not sure how he convinces them, because it doesn't seem like the greatest return on investment.

  I also saw Jen Creason for the first time in months -- she was the original Pokerwire girl, and is still the best chip counter in the world. (Too bad she's retired.) Creason was rooting for Andy Bloch, her former (and perhaps future) fiance. She was sitting next to Heather Borowinski, another former Pokerwire girl (now working for Full Tilt). Everyone seemed surprised to see me in the audience rather than at my usual spot in Media Row.

  When I asked fans in the packed audience who they were rooting for, the most common answer was "Kathy Liebert." (Maria Ho was rooting for her too.) Liebert may not get as much press coverage as the younger female players, but a lot of fans really like her.

  You can catch all the latest action at PokerNews.com by clicking here for the live updates, and here for the chip counts.

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• The 10-Hour Rule

  Юни 01, 2008

  The final table for Event #1 ($10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em) was originally scheduled for 2:00 pm tomorrow (Sunday). However, since play didn't finish until 4:50 am, the "10-hour rule" kicks into effect, and the final table has been pushed back to a 3:00 pm start. (All times are listed in the Pacific time zone.)

  Basically, the 10-hour rule guarantees that players will have at least 10 hours between days of a tournament. If a tournament day ends less than ten hours before the next day's action begins, the schedule will be pushed back in one-hour increments.

  Keep in mind that players aren't guaranteed a full ten hours for sleep. For the televised final tables, players need to return up to 2 1/2 hours early for ESPN pre-game interviews. Such is the price of poker fame.

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• Late Night Update: Bright Prospects for First Final Table

  Юни 01, 2008

  Harrah's opened the 2008 WSOP with a $10,000 event as part of a "cold open," giving the staff a chance to start with a smaller, more manageable event (352 players). It turns out that there is a beneficial side effect -- $10,000 buy-in events tend to have a higher percentage of top players than the $1,500 no-limit hold'em events that have started the WSOP in recent years with thousands of entrants.

  Shortly after 1:30 am PT, there are still 12 players left in Event #1 ($10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em), battling for the nine seats at the first final table of the 2008 WSOP. Andy Bloch leads the field with about 1.2 million in chips, followed by Patrik "Black Lotus" Antonius. Other big names still in the field include young online pro Mike Sowers, Phil "Unabomber" Laak, Nenad Medic, Mike Sexton, Kathy Liebert, and Chris Bell. This definitely has the potential for a very exciting and TV-friendly final table.

  Update #1: As of 1:50 am PT, the field is down to 11 players, and everyone that I mentioned above is still alive.

  Update #2: As of 2:00 am PT, the field is down to 10 players, and everyone that I mentioned above is still alive. Ryan Young, who won a WSOP bracelet in $1,500 no-limit hold'em last year, was just eliminated in 11th place.

  Update #3: As of 4:00 am PT, the field is stuck at 10 players. Andy Bloch is still the chipleader with about 1.7 million in chips, followed by Mike Sexton with about 1.1 million. The final ten seemed to be in high spirits two hours ago, talking, joking, and laughing. As the hour gets later, they become more tired and less talkative. The thick crowd of spectators on the rail two hours ago has also thinned out quite a bit.

  Update #4: At approximately 4:50 am PT, John Kabbaj was eliminated in tenth place as the unfortunate TV bubble boy. The ESPN final table is finally set, and Andy Bloch leads the way with about 2.0 million in chips.

  The final table is scheduled to start tomorrow (Sunday) at 2:00 pm 3:00 pm PT, and you can follow the PokerNews official live updates as they play down to the final nine tonight as they play for the bracelet tomorrow afternoon by clicking here. You can also click here for chip counts.

  Now this is the way to start a WSOP.

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