BJ Nemeth

The past few days, fellow members of the media have been asking my opinion on what the big stories have been from the first few days of the WSOP.

Clearly, the biggest story is Nenad Medic's victory in Event #1, and the fantastic final table lineup he had to defeat for the bracelet (Andy Bloch, Kathy Liebert, Mike Sexton, Chris Bell, Patrik Antonius, Phil Laak, and young online pros Amit "amak316" Makhija and Mike "SowersUNCC" Sowers).

The second biggest story is the record-breaking field for Event #2 -- 3,929 players. It was the first WSOP preliminary event with two starting days, and it generated prelim records for largest prizepool ($5,363,085) and largest first prize ($831,462). (These records exclude $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. for obvious reasons -- it's not really a "prelim.")

The third biggest story? Nothing.

In past years there have been plenty of early complaints from the players as the WSOP experienced growing pains with the move from Binion's to the Rio and the exploding fields. But WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and his team have learned from their mistakes and strive to make improvements every year. One leading indicator that this year was different? For the first time in WSOP history at the Rio, Event #1 started on time.

In past years, everything from overcrowded restrooms and overpriced/underflavored food options to quick blind structures and hard-to-read PokerPeek cards were criticized in past WSOPs. And the lines -- oh, the long lines. But Pollack's team has tackled all of those problems, and more. The players and the media have apparently run out of things to complain about.

The WSOP has finally grown to maturity.

From this point forward, I expect most of the stories coming out of the WSOP to focus on the players and the action at the tables, which is as it should be.

The first week of the WSOP starts slow but quickly builds up to six events per day. Take a look at the events scheduled for the first six days below:

Friday, May 30th:
Event #1 begins with 352 players

Saturday, May 31st:
Event #1 plays down from 70 to final 9
Event #2 (Day 1a) begins with 2,048 players

Sunday, June 1st:
Event #1 Final Table
Event #2 (Day 1b) begins with 1,881 players

Monday, June 2nd:
Event #2 plays down from 447 to final 9
Event #3 begins with 713 players
Event #4 begins with 332 players

Tuesday, June 3rd:
Event #2 Final Table
Event #3 plays down to final 9
Event #4 plays down to final 9
Event #5 begins at 12:00 noon
Event #6 begins at 5:00 pm

Wednesday, June 4th:
Event #3 Final Table
Event #4 Final Table
Event #5 plays down to final 9
Event #6 plays down to final 9
Event #7 begins at 12:00 noon
Event #8 begins at 5:00 pm

From June 4th to June 19th (a little more than two weeks), there are six events in action most days, making it rather hectic and confusing for those of us in the media, trying to track multiple events in different parts of the room.

Starting June 20th, the WSOP scales back to a more leisurely four or five events each day.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Update #1: As of 12:30 am, 3,736 players have registered, leaving a little more than 360 seats left. I'm willing to bet that the event will sell out before play begins at 12:00 noon.

Update #2: I would have lost that bet. Event #2 came close, but didn't quite sellout. (There were 1,881 entrants on Day 1b out of a possible 2,050.) Regardless, it shattered all the expectations of everyone I spoke to before the WSOP.

As of 8:15 pm PT, the total field for Event #2 has grown to 3,641 players, nearly 500 more than the previous record for a WSOP preliminary event. And it continues to grow, with a chance to reach the two-day capacity of 4,100 players.

The maximum capacity according to Harrah's is 2,050 players per day, at least until an additional ballroom is added with 65 more poker tables on June 12th. Day 1a was technically a sellout, but I received word earlier today that two players were no-shows, and had apparently taken the last-minute steps necessary to get their money refunded.

So there were 2,048 players for Day 1a, with another 1,593 already registered for Day 1b. There are about 450 seats still available for those who want to play, but I expect the event to completely sell out by noon tomorrow.

It seems that the night-shift tournament director I spoke with last night was on the mark when he predicted a sellout.

Where Does Everyone Play?
For those who are interested, this is how a capacity crowd breaks down:

Amazon Room: 158 tables*
Tropical Room: 23 tables
Near Buzio's Restaurant: 14 tables
Rio Poker Room: 10 tables

That adds up to 205 tables, for a capacity one-day field of 2,050. (*For the record, the total for the Amazon room does not include ESPN's TV table.)

The Amazon Room is the main WSOP tournament room, and the Tropical Room is directly across the hall, where satellites are played most of the time. Buzio's seafood restaurant is a long walk, almost all the way back to the casino floor, and the Rio's poker room is further still, between the sportsbook and the bowling alley.

Where is Brown Table #27?
Within the Amazon Room, the four "quadrants" are designated with different colors: blue, orange, green, and brown. (Yesterday, the brown section was to be red, which was difficult to distinguish from the orange. So they changed it.) There are 50 tables in the blue section, 45 in orange, 16 in green (including ESPN's TV table), and 48 in brown.

The curious thing? While the brown tables are labeled from 1-49, there is no brown table #27. It simply isn't there -- the numbered tables jump from #26 to #28. They originally planned to have five tables in a "high-stakes area," separated from the other tables by short walls about three feet high. It may have been a tight fit, so they removed one of the tables -- brown table #27.

UPDATE: As of 1:30 am PT, registration has reached 3,006. A sellout is looking more and more likely, so if you hope to play in Event #2, you'd better register NOW.

As of 8:00 pm PT this evening, there were already more than 2,500 players registered for Event #2 ($1,500 No-Limit Hold'em). At this point, they are spread rather evenly, with roughly 1,250 for Day 1a and 1,250 for Day 1b. The tournament official that I spoke with expects a sellout, but I think he might be a little over-optimistic.

I have received slightly different reports on the total capacity for the next two days, with one source saying 207 tables and another claiming 196. (We'll know for certain tomorrow.) Starting on June 12th, another ballroom will become available, adding another 65 tables to the current capacity.

So the current capacity appears to be about 2,000 players per day, for a total of 4,000 players. To reach full capacity, they'll need the 160 or so tables in the Amazon Room, the 23 tables that are currently being used for satellites in the Tropical Room, with the rest of the players being in other parts of the casino -- some near the Buzio's seafood restaurant, and others in the Rio poker room.

The record field size for a WSOP preliminary event was set last year in Event #49 ($1,500 No-Limit Hold'em), when 3,151 players signed up. While I don't think tomorrow's Event #2 will be a complete sellout, I am predicting a record-breaking field of at least 3,500. That would also set a record for largest prizepool in a WSOP prelim, and probably the largest first prize in prelim history (not counting the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event for obvious reasons). It'll be interesting to see how close first prize comes to the $1 million mark.

Other Notes:

1. Back in the 2005 Main Event, Shawn Sheikhan berated a female dealer so much that she was reduced to tears. (And no, I won't be naming her here.) The other players agreed that he went way over the line, and he later apologized to her. But she never let it get to her, and she's returned to the WSOP each year since. Today, I noticed that she's been promoted to a floorperson in the cash game area. Congrats!

2. There will be an experimental coding system for tracking players tomorrow for Day 2 of the $10,000 pot-limit hold'em event. There are cards on the table that allow the media to know every player's name even as they change seats and break tables. It was originally developed by Jonathan Raab in London, and then transitioned to the European Poker Tour (EPT), where it has been used with a lot of success. I'll discuss it in more detail tomorrow.

The WSOP has been underway for more than three hours now, and the biggest story so far? For the first time in WSOP history at the Rio, the first event started smoothly and on time.

Ever since the WSOP moved to the Rio, the first day has been a chaotic affair, with long lines and short tempers. But this year, even with some pre-game speeches and ceremonies involving the UNLV marching band, Doyle Brunson concluded it all with the traditional phrase, "Shuffle up and deal!" -- at exactly 12:00 noon. (In recent years, play was delayed as much as half an hour.)

When play began today, there were no registration lines and the stress levels were low. With a $10,000 buy in, this first event only has 352 entrants, but it is an elite field including the best in the world. Those players were relaxed and catching up with friends that they hadn't seen in a while.

Credit for a clean start on Day 1 goes primarily to a smoother registration process, and Harrah's has been really pushing their online registration. Even those of us in the media, who waited in long lines in past years to pick up our passes, were greeted with a quick and painless process to get credentials.

Of course, the real test will be tomorrow, when thousands of players are expected for Event #2 ($1,500 No-Limit Hold'em). Today's smaller field gives the tournament staff some time to work out the kinks and get their feet wet. (While it's an experienced tournament staff, nothing compares to the WSOP.)

The first glitch in the system? The tournament clocks seem to be running a bit fast. While the tournament started on time, the first break took place around 1:50 pm -- ten minutes early. It was quickly determined that the tournament clock software was running fast, so the staff added ten more minutes of Level 2 blinds when the players returned from break.

Harrah's quickly had people looking into the clock problem, and for the time being, the tournament director will keep a separate clock to make sure the players get their full 60-minute levels.

But compared to Day 1 glitches from prior years, this is minor. Certainly compared to the PokerPeek controversy from last year, where the newly designed cards were so hated that some players talked about a WSOP boycott.