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2007 World Series of Poker
Events 21 to 25

Event #21 | #22 | #23 | #24 | #25

Event #21 June 12 Tuesday 12 Noon
No-Limit Hold'em Shootout 2 day event $1,500.00

This was an active event with 900 starting and playing to the final table in 1 day! The prize pool got up to $1,228,500 with cash going to the top 90. How this tournament works is players compete at an assigned table until there is only one left standing. When all tables have their winners declared, these winners are seated at new tables and the whole process repeats itself. Day 1 casualties include Antonio Esfandiari, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Phil Hellmuth, Greg Merkow, Isaac Haxton, J.J. Liu, Andy Bloch, Andrew Black, David Williams, Jennifer Harman, Jennifer Tilly, Mark Seif, Phil Ivey, Mel Judah, Phil Gordon, Vanessa Rousso, Charlie Shoten, John D'Agostino, Mimi Tran, Dewey Tomko and Maureen Feduniak just to name a few! Day 1 was a long one which began at 12:30 p.m. and ended at 4:45 a.m. the next day. The remaining 9 will come back at 2:00 p.m. PDT to see who is the champion.

Action for the final table shootout started at 3:30 p.m. PDT with the blinds starting at $3,000/$6,000, and a $1,000 ante. All players began with 300,000 each. Erick "E-Dog" Lindgren was the first to go in 8th place when he met up with the two pair (A's/9's) of Don Baruch. In 7th place is Doug Baughman who was eliminated by Daniel Negreanu's set of Kings. Daniel was also responsible for Brendan Lee leaving in 6th place and Michael Wehner in 5th place whom he beat with another set of Kings, leaving Daniel with 1,539,000 in chips. Fourth place was the domain of Thomas Fuller who's hand of Ad 5d was overcome by the pocket A's of Jared Davis. After 3 more hours including dinner break, the dominance of Daniel Negreanu's chip pile was whittled away like a tree being turned into a toothpick. He eventually had to settle for a 3rd place finish, losing out to the two pair (5's/7's) of Jared Davis.

Heads up action began with Don Baruch having 2,093,000 chips to Jared Davis with 607,000. After a little over an hour of play, Jared Davis goes all-in with As 5c and is called by Don Baruch holding Kc Qs. Both see a flop of Qd 9d 9c, a turn of Qh making Davis sick at this point. The river card is a 8h and Don Baruch makes a full house and becomes the latest WSOP bracelet holder and champion.

Final table results:

1. Don Baruch -- $264,107
2. Jared Davis -- $149,263
3. Daniel Negreanu -- $101,351
4. Thomas Fuller -- $68,796
5. Michael Wehner -- $36,855
6. Brendan Lee -- $22,113
7. Doug Baughman -- $15,971
8. Erick Lindgren -- $15,971

Event #22 June 13 Wednesday 12 Noon
No-Limit Hold�em 3 day event $5,000.00

A sizable cash pool of $3,012,700 was created by the 640 players that entered Event #22. Money will go to the top 63 finishers. This field was made up of tons of the biggest names in poker, all starting with $10,000 each in chips. One thing that has to be weird is to play against Mike Sexton after having him announce hands at WPT events. But after you see him take big pots from players like Antonio Esfandiari, reality adjusts quickly. A lot of players did well, especially the ladies like WSOP bracelet holders Jennifer Tilly and Kathy Liebert who were in the top 9 that will see action on Day 2. Others who made the cut for the next round include Allen Cunningham 87,000, David Benyamine 85,000, Max Pescatori 69,000, Phil Laak 52,000, David "The Dragon" Pham 43,000, WPT announcer Mike Sexton 42,000, Robert Mizrachi 24,000, Eric Froehlich 34,000 and Alan Goehring 11,000. They will return as part of a 85 player field June 14th at 2:00 p.m.

Day 2 got off to a fast start as in the first half hour 14 went to the rail. Over the next few hours, eliminations happened coming down to the final table players. Those who were not able to make the cut include Jennifer Tilly, Allen Cunningham, Kathy Liebert, Cliff Josephy, T.J. Cloutier, David Benyamine, Tony Guoga, Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf and Max Pescatori. Even Mike Sexton was busted in 36th after a spectacular run today. Phil Laak finished in 11th place which was pretty good considering he was 84th out of the field of 85. Final table play will begin at 2:00 p.m. on June 15th.

The first bustout at the final table happened two hours into play. The pocket 9's of Michael Gracz were overcome by the set of Queens belonging to James Mackey, resulting in a 9th place finish for Gracz. About five minutes later, Tex Barch was eliminated in 8th place after losing to the paired J's of Stuart Fox. Jan Sorensen had his pocket A's cracked by the set of 10's belonging to Michael Binger and ended up in 7th place. Next to go was Nick 'TheTakeover' Schulman in 6th place, falling to the 10s kicker of James Mackey. Karga Holt who was chip leader coming into the final table, was busted in 5th by the two pair (J's and A's) of Michael Binger. William McMahon was dispatched in 4th with the full house (3's/7's) of James Mackey. Michael Binger was eliminated in 3rd place when his pocket 10's lost to Mackey's paired A's.

Heads up began with a crushing differential in chips, 21 year old James Mackey had 5,905,000 and Stuart Fox held 495,000. The blinds were at $20,000/$40,000, with a $5,000 ante. Fox lost the first three hands of play, and on the fourth hand Mackey goes all-in with 10d 2h and Fox calls holding Kd 4s. What came up on the board is Qs 9h 7d, turn card is a 10s with the river card being 10c. So with a set of 10's, James Mackey becomes another 21 year old WSOP bracelet holder, the second one of this WSOP!

Here are the final table results:

1. James Mackey -- $730,740
2. Stuart Fox -- $448,892
3. Michael Binger -- $295,245
4. William McMahon -- $194,319
5. Karga Holt -- $140,091
6. Nick Schulman -- $108,457
7. Jan Sorensen -- $81,343
8. Tex Barch -- $60,254
9. Michael Gracz -- $43,684

Event #23 June 14 Thursday 12 Noon
Pot Limit Omaha 2 day event $1,500.00

Day 1 of this Pot Limit Hold'Em tournament had 576 players enter it, helping to create a $786,240 prize pool. Top 54 players will see money in this event. Lots of top names were at the tables such as Robert Williamson III, Erik Seidel, Humberto Brenes, Huck Seed, Freddy Deeb, John Gale, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Thomas Wahlroos, Marcel Luske, 2005 Pot Limit Omaha bracelet holder Josh Arieh, 2004 Pot Limit Omaha bracelet holder Ted Lawson, Johnny Chan, Andy Black and Vanessa Rousso. But when action got underway, bustouts happened fast. One player Mickey Mills was out on the first hand in less than 50 seconds after he sat down. He was followed by John Gale, Erick Lindgren, Steve Zolotow, Clonie Gowan, Andy Bloch, Tony Cousineau and Humberto Brenes to name a few. By 2;20 a.m. the next day, there were 26 contenders for the bracelet left. With Johnny Chan in the field, a lot of speculation was there about this being the event he finds his 11th WSOP bracelet.

For Day 2, the 26 remaining from Day 1 will play down to the championship winner. Johnny Chan's hopes for bracelet number 11 were crushed when he lost a hand to an opponent's two pair (J's/6's), finishing in 19th place. Dau Ly seemed to have lots of energy as he talked non-stop even if no one was listening or responding. When Richard Olofsson was busted by Scott Clements in 10th, it was time for the final table to begin.

Clements established an early dominance when 20 min into final table play, he took out K.U. Davis in 9th and Anthony MacCanello in 8th on the same hand. Less than one hour later, Andy Black was gone in 7th when the full house of William Durkee (A's/10's) came into view. Mark Davis had no choice but to accept 6th place when his final move was met with the 4 - 10's of Dau Ly. Ly also took out Jason Newburger eight minutes after Davis with a full house (J's/A's) for a 5th place finish. William Durkee was busted in 4th after his two pair (K's and Q's) was hit by a superior two pair held by Scott Clements (A's and Q's). Clements also dispatched Dau Ly in 3rd place, racking up a huge pile of chips in the process.

The pile of chips held by Clements was at 1,700,000 and Eric Lynch had 100,000. Eric did not give much thought as to strategy, he just went all-in on the first hand and Clements called it. What cards came next is highly sketchy at this point, but we do know that the hand gave a three of a kind 9's to Clements and his second WSOP gold and diamond bracelet.

Final table results:

1. Scott Clements -- $194,206
2. Eric Lynch -- $119,508
3. Dau Ly -- $78,624
4. William Durkee -- $52,285
5. Jason Newburger -- $38,133
6. Mark Davis-- $29,877
7. Andy Black -- $22,408
8. Anthony MacCanello -- $16,511
9. K.U. Davis -- $11,794

Event #24 June 14 Thursday 5:00 PM
World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low/Split-8 or Better
3 day event $3,000.00

Day 1 stats have 236 entrants, creating a prize pool of $651,360. Money goes to the top 24 players. All players began with 6,000 chip stacks. And speaking of players, seen at the tables were Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, Ralph Perry, Howard "The Professor" Lederer, Chris Bjorn, Annie Duke, Minh Ly, Barbara Lewis, David Chiu, Mike Matusow, Layne Flack, Phil Ivey, Ted Forrest, Dutch Boyd and John Juanda. There was lots of action, bustouts, horror stories about eliminations, but there was one story that stood out today. That was the one about a terminally-ill cancer patient who is just a kid named Mitch Maxey, 17 years old. His dream was to play a tournament against some of the top players in the world. Some pros who stepped up to give him his wish were Tom McEvoy, Phil Laak, Greg Raymer, Mike Sexton, Isabelle Mercier, Bill Chen, and Michael Mizrachi. During their break they played against Mitch with Mitch winning the "tournament". Afterwards, everyone shook Mitch's hand and thanked him for inviting them to play. And who says poker players don't have a heart! Back at the tables, action continued until 2:00 a.m. with the 118 survivors returning tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. PDT.

Day 2 still had a lot of big names which meant there would be some really tough players at some tables. Marcel Luske, Ted Forrest, David Sklansky, Eli Elezra, Chau Giang, Mike Sexton, David Sklansky, Mel Judah, Greg Raymer, Annie Duke, Ted Forrest and Chip Reese were just some of the top talent still left. And when action got under way, players busted out one after the other. (Most went directly over to the H.O.R.S.E. event to play.) It was decided to have 8 at the final table, and that number was reached about 2:30 a.m.

Final table action got underway with the players having limits of $8,000/$16,000 with antes of 2,000, bring-in of $2,000, with the completion being $8,000. This was probably the toughest final table of the 2007 WSOP series so far. Bustouts began fast as short stacked Marshall Ragir with only 28,000 chips was eliminated in 8th place when his paired 2's could not stand to the pocket 8's of George Hardie. From this point Eli Elezra began to win chips in a process that was akin to pulling teeth, but his stack rose up to 350,000 by the next elimination who happened to be George Hardie in 7th place. His pocket 10's were overcome by the paired K's of Eli Elezra. Thor Hansen was next to go in 6th after losing in a 3-way hand involving David Sklansky and Scotty Nguyen. Fifth place was the domain of David Sklansky who lost in a 3-way hand with Scotty Nguyen and Eli Elezra. John Harkness who's stack had been crippled due to a lot of low cards, went to the rail in 4th. Dutch Boyd had to lay claim to 3rd after Elezra's pair of Kings made themselves superior to Boyd's pair of 7's.

Official chip counts for the heads up looked like this, Eli Elezra with 1,099,000 and Scotty Nguyen with 318,000. Action was careful in execution with both players. But at one point they decide to chop the prize money for first and second. The tournament director reminded them they could not discuss such deals at the table, so they took a break to discuss things with the result only known to them. It might have been due to the number of drinks they both consumed. Elezra stood up during the heads up to announce he was officially drunk! He even took Scotty's beer and slurped it down. (Of course Scotty just ordered another one.) When asked Scotty said 'Hell no!' to the dinner break. Elezra even took cell phone calls during hands, but he was still winning hands and piling up more chips. On the final hand Eli Elezra had 1,397,000 chips and Scotty Nguyen was left with 20,000. Both players went all in and Elezra ended up becoming champion on an Ace high straight (Ace thru 10). This is Eli's first WSOP bracelet. While Eli won about 200k for the title, he said in an exit interview that the side bets gained him another 500k with 250 of it coming from Barry Greenstein who bet him 10 to 1 he would not win a bracelet.

Final Table results:

1. Eli Elezra -- $198,984
2. Scotty Nguyen -- $110,731
3. Dutch Boyd -- $71,650
4. John Harkness -- $47,224
5. David Sklansky -- $35,825
6. Thor Hansen -- $27,357
7. George Hardie -- $20,844
8. Marshall Ragir -- $14,981

Event #25 June 15 Friday 12 Noon
No-Limit Hold�em 3 day event $2,000.00

Day 1 of this tournament had 1,619 players entering to play in the Pavilion tent with 100+ degree weather, resulting in a $2,946,580 prize pool. Money goes out to 153 positions. Some of those players eliminated who will not see any cash include T.J. Cloutier, Cliff "Johnny Bax" Josephy, Josh Arieh, Surindar Sunar, Jennifer Tilly, Barry Greenstein, Chris Bigler, Allen Cunningham, Isabelle Mercier, Evelyn Ng and Gavin Smith. When the dust settled, there were 130 survivors that will play in Day 2 which will begin at 2:00 p.m.

At 3:00 p.m. Day 2 got underway. Action was fierce, resulting in many top players going to the sidelines. Players like Liz Lieu, Steve Dannenman, Ross Boatman, Justin Pechie, Michael Woo, Amnon Filippi, Jeff Shulman, Hung La gone thanks to the paired Q's of Travis Rice. Some players had incredible runs like Evan Schwartz, who doubled up to 400,000 in a hand with another player when Evan paired his 10 card, winning that hand. After winning another hand which added 280,000 to his stack he was final table bound. Ken Einiger climbed the chip ladder, vaulting from his day 1 19th place finish with 53,000 to over 1 million on day 2, eliminating 2005 WSOP Main Event final table player Steve Dannenmann in the process. Travis Rice also had an astounding turbo boost to his stack today. He played highly consistently and won a huge pot of 450k, doubled up through Ken Einiger and busted Praz Bansi in 10th place to reach the chip leader spot. Around 1:45 a.m. the nine for the final table were reached and they bagged their chips to return tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.

Today we are the WSOP in Las Vegas, where the temperature is really hot around 103 degrees. One would stop and ask the question why is it so hot? And after seeing how the final table turned out, one would ask why did it turn out the way it did? Travis Rice started as chip leader with 1,284,000 and Ken Einiger had 1,039,000, but the performance was not near what was expected. Hmmmmmm? Well to start the tale, the players began with blinds at $15,000/$30,000, ante at $4,000. Less than 20 min after the start, Darryl Ronconi busted out in 9th place after his pocket J's lost out to the paired Q's of Travis Rice. And in 8th was Ken Einiger who went all-in under the gun and lost out to the Ace high flush of Evan Schwartz. (Einiger had two pair at the turn, but the river card made the flush) for Schwartz. For the first hour, Rice seemed to have control of his chips and his standing at the table as did Evan Schwartz. But then Justin Rollo doubled up through Schwartz becoming chip leader with over 2 million in his stack. Then Adam Ross was eliminated in 7th when he lost an all-in with A 7 to the two pair (K's and 10's) of Rice. Afterwards, Ben Ponzio doubled through Schwartz, making Schwartz work hard to replace those chips. Schwartz then takes out Danny Noam in 6th by pairing his 10 card, and making a bigger two pair than Danny could with his pocket 8's. Soon after Rollo who was down to about 1.3 mil, doubled up on a hand with Rice leaving Rice with less than 200,000 in chips. On the next hand, Rice goes out in 5th losing by an Ace kicker in a hand with David Hewitt. Schwartz who's stack went south after losing many battles, went all-in with Q 3 and met the pocket 6's of Rollo. The 6's held up and Schwartz walked away from the table in 4th. Ben Ponzio then doubled through Rollo, crippling Rollo's stack. Next hand Rollo goes in 3rd after losing to the King high hand of David Hewitt.

In the beginning of the heads up match, Ben Ponzio had 5.3 million in chips verses David Hewitt's 1.2 million. After 33 careful hands, Hewitt goes all-in (10h 3h) and is called by Ponzio (Kh Qh). The board shows Jd 9s 6c 8s Ad, giving Ponzio the win, the bracelet and the title of champion with a King high hand.

Final table results:

1. Ben Ponzio -- $ 599,467
2. David Hewitt -- $374,216
3. Justin Rollo -- $244,566
4. Evan Schwartz -- $165,008
5. Travis Rice -- $111,970
6. Danny Noam -- $82,504
7. Adam Ross -- $61,878
8. Ken Einiger -- $45,672
9. Darryl Ronconi -- $34,770