WSOP Update #1

For those of you not aware, the World Series of Poker began on Friday, May 30th with the World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em event, and some noteable names have added to their already impressive list of accomplishments.

Erick Lindgren Captured his first WSOP bracelet winning the $5000 Mixed Hold'em event. Like Phil Mickelson before he won his first green jacket, Erick was considered the best player in the world without a WSOP bracelet, and I'm sure both are very happy to shed that distinction. The final table at this event boasted some very big names, including Justin Bonomo, Howard "The Professor" Lederer and former WSOP Main Event Runner-up David Williams. Along with the bracelet, Erick won $374,505.

This event was new to the WSOP schedule, with the format being standard Hold'em poker, but they would switch from Limit to No Limit at set points. If you've played both version of Hold'em, you can appreciate the difference between them, and therefore understand the adjustments that it would take to be switching between back and forth. I've never tried it (and to be honest, I hate Limit poker, so I likely never will), but it sounds very tough, and therefore much congratulations are deserved to Erick.

Another early winner is David Singer, a member of the Full-Tilt Poker Team. This is also David's first WSOP bracelet, coming from the $1500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event, cashing in a very healthy $214,131 for his effort. This tournament seems to be one that the big names tend to skip, and the final table was a pretty good indication of that, as most players had no experience being at the final table of a WSOP event.

Singer's recent accomplishments include winning the Full Tilt Poker Heads-Up National Championship, and has been at 3 WPT final tables. In 2008 alone, Singers win total is already over $4,000,000!