WSOP Main Event - Down to final table in hunt for $8.5m
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 | Adrian Milewski
Day 6 of the 2007 WSOP Main Event is complete and we have reached the final table. From a starting field of 6,358 - the nine players remaining are already guaranteed a payday of at least $525,934 and can climb the money ladder all the way up to the first prize of $8.25m.
After the first 6 preliminary days (Days 1 a – d and Days 2a and 2b) of action the field was merged for the first time on the seventh day of play (Day 3) with 797 players remaining and the tense target of the money bubble at position 621.
Approaching the bubble as usual hand for hand play on all tables was in progress as the shortstacks desperately tried to hang on to creep into the money. The Pro’s still left in the field took advantage of this, with one such example of this being Full Tilt pro Lee Watkinson who raised blind every single hand to $150,000 with his big stack forcing all the shortstacks at his table to call all in if they wanted to play a hand.
The bubble finally burst when John Sigan was the unfortunate person to be eliminated in 622nd place after his opponent hit a gutshot straight draw on him. The whole room broke into cheers as the tournament director announced that they had all made the money, and the relief was clear to see on some critical shortstacks faces some of which only had a few antes left.
By the end of Day 3 there were just 337 players left and it was internet pro Dario Minieri who was leading the field with 2.4m in chips. Minieri became famous online when he was the first person who accumulated enough Frequent Player Points at Pokerstars to cash them in for a Porsche! Yes you read that right – that’s a helluva lot of FPP’s.
Chip leaders at end of Day 3
- Dario Minieri - 2,398,000
- Jeff Weiss - 1,533,000
- Jon Kalmar - 1,410,000
- Hevad Khan - 1,319,000
- Kenny Tran - 1,175,000
- Steven Jacobs - 1,127,000
- Brock Parker - 1,089,000
- Robert Neitrayan - 1,058,000
- William Spadea - 1,057,000
- Nicolas Atlan - 1,057,000
After the relief of bursting the money bubble on Day 3 and narrowing the field down to 337, Day 4 was moving day where players started to make their moves to either build their stacks or get eliminated from the tournament.
Day 4 saw another 225 players eliminated bring the field down to just 112 players with a number of notable names still in the hunt for the ultimate prize in poker. Full Tilt pro’s Gus Hansen and Lee Watkinson were still in good shape as were former champions Scotty Nguyen and Huck Seed. Three other former champions Robert Varkonyi, Carlos Mortensen and Berry Johnston were no longer in the competitions after becoming one of the victims of Day 4.
Chip leaders at end of Day 4
- Dag Martin Mikkelsen - 3,740,000
- Charis Anastasiou - 2,672,000
- Richard Harris - 2,662,000
- Avi Cohen - 2,392,000
- Jeff Tunkel - 2,323,000
- Alex Kravchenko - 2,274,000
- Hevad Khan - 2,200,000
- Ryan Elson - 2,137,000
- Paul Spitzberg - 1,963,000
- Sven Niklas Heinecker - 1,908,000
Day 5 was another day where players either stood up and were counted or they found themselves going to the rail. With 112 players starting the day, by the end of play there was just 36 players remaining with the bright lights of the final table within touching distance for those remaining.
Amongst the victims of Day 5 were previous chip leader Dario Minieri, former champion Huck Seed, Full Tilt pro Gus Hansen and fan favourite Humberto Brenes.
Huck Seed’s elimination meant there was just one former champion left in the field being Scotty Nguyen.
Chip leaders at end of Day 5
- David Tran — 10,280,000
- Philip Hilm — 9,950,000
- Ray Henson — 8,250,000
- Hevad Khan — 7,585,000
- Kevin Farry — 7,400,000
- Scott Freeman — 7,360,000
- Lee Childs — 6,520,000
- Jerry Yang — 5,090,000
- Kenny Tran — 4,955,000
- William Spadea — 4,575,000
Day 6 (which is really the ninth day of play) had one aim and that was to reduce the field from 36 down to the final table of 9 players. This sounds easier that it is and it actually took a gruelling 16 hours of play to achieve this.
All the players starting Day 6 already had a prize of at least $285,678 guaranteed but everyone had their eyes on booking a seat at the final table in front of the worlds media.
Former champion Scotty Nguyen’s hopes were crushed when he was agonisingly eliminated in 11th place just short of the final table. It took a further two hours to eliminate the final player required and the unfortunate guy was Steven Garfinkle who was the final table bubble boy, but still left with a prize of $476,926.
So the final table is set, and all nine players will return on Tuesday to play out the entire final table in front of the crowd at the Rio, the ESPN camera’s and the world’s media.
There are a lot of well known names at the final table with Full Tilt’s Lee Watkinson, internet whizkid Hevad Khan and well known European names such as Philip Hilm.
2008 WSOP Main Event - Final Table Line Up
- Seat 1: Jon Kalmar – 20,320,000
- Seat 2: Lee Childs – 13,240,000
- Seat 3: Philip Hilm – 22,070,000
- Seat 4: Jerry Yang – 8,450,000
- Seat 5: Raymond Rahme – 16,320,000
- Seat 6: Tuan Lam – 21,315,000
- Seat 7: Alex Kravchenko – 6,570,000
- Seat 8: Lee Watkinson – 9,925,000
- Seat 9: Hevad Khan – 9,205,000
2008 WSOP Main Event - Final Table Payouts
- 1st: $8,250,000
- 2nd: $4,840,981
- 3rd: $3,048,025
- 4th: $1,852,721
- 5th: $1,255,069
- 6th: $956,243
- 7th: $705,229
- 8th: $585,934
- 9th: $525,934
Qualifying for the Pokerstars WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) is underway with $15m in guaranteed prize pools and a $5m guarantee for the main event. Win your seat now for one of the 17 events taking place in the online equivalent to the WSOP.
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- WSOP Events #49 to #54 - Final Events summary
