WSOP Update #9

The $1500 Pot-Limit Omaha W/ReBuys tournament is down to the final table. The prize money is bigger than ever for this event, with the winner taking home $577,725. Only 320 players entered the tournament, but with a record 1350 rebuys (an average of 4 rebuys per person), the final 9 players are looking at a nice payday. Among the notables here, Ted Forrest and Layne Flack are both in very good shape.

Sebastian Ruthenberg wins the $5000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, despite being at a final table with many top pros. Chris Ferguson, Marcel Luske and Annie Duke were amongst the players at the final table, with Ruthenberg doing battle with the "Holy One", Chris Ferguson. This was the highlight of the tournament, as the heads-up battle lasted more than 3 hours, and started with Ferguson having more than a 2-1 chip leads.

Ruthenburg would battle back to take a slight chip lead, but was then crippled to having just $200,000 in chips, giving Ferguson more that 2.4 Million chips, and a massive lead. Undeterred, Ruthenberg continued to fight back, and would eventually defeat the much more experienced Ferguson.

A couple of other events got underway yesterday, and many big names are popping up near the top of the leader board.

$1500 No-Limit Hold'em event #36 has begun, and after day one, I'm very happy to see Freddy Deeb's name finally surfaced on a leader board. Not only is he one of my personal favorites, but I'm also told I look and act a lot like him at the table, something I don't take as a compliment. Deeb was the winner of last years $50,000 buy-in World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event, earning more than $2,250,000 in prize money. Freddy is in 42 position, with 186 players remaining from the starting 2447 who began the day, another massive event.

In the $10,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, less than half the field was eliminated on day 1, as 123 players remain. Once again Erick "E-dog" Lindgren is right in contention, sitting in 3rd place, and is having a fantastic 2008 WSOP. Lots of other big name players remain, including Shannon Elizabeth. This is not the first time she's been doing well in a WSOP tournament, as she has been playing a lot of poker recently. A lot of other top names remain in this one, and all have their eye on the top prize of more than $500,000.