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#481 – WSOP Notebook #38 – What I Saw at the World Series, Part IV-B
This is the last part of my essay about the 2008 World Series of Poker. If I get a chance, I’ll review my notes from the Series and see if I have any other fun experiences to pass along. But otherwise, this is it for now.
Part IV-B – The State of Poker Professionals, According to the World Series of Poker [Part B]
This was Part A.
7. John Phan – John has been a top tournament player for a decade and has done time on the list of “best players without a bracelet.” So what’s he do in 2008? Wins two bracelets, a week apart.
8. Vanessa Selbst – Vanessa has been on the short list of ladies-event finishers for a few years, so I didn’t think it was a fluke when she finished third in the Heads-Up Championship at the Series in 2007. But if there were any doubts, she won her first bracelet in 2008, in PLO, and finished third in the Heads-Up Championship again, just a few days later.
9. David Singer – Here is how little respect [link] David Singer gets: I don’t think he even made some of the best-without-a-bracelet lists. He came into the Series red-hot, having finished second in the Vegas Open and won Caesars’ Palace Championship in late 2007 and winning Full Tilt’s $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up Championship right before the Series. He won a bracelet in Pot Limit Hold ‘Em and made another final table.
10. Daniel Negreanu – Is there a more famous poker player in the world than Daniel Negreanu? I think there’s been a tendancy, if anything, to underrate Negreanu because he’s become so well known. Anything after his monster 2004-2005 gets regarded as a slump and final tables, unless they result in wins, are regarded by his fans as disappointments. He won his fourth bracelet in 2008 (his second in Limit Hold ‘Em) and made another final table.
11. Layne Flack – Flack won his sixth bracelet in 2008 in PLO with rebuys, over a final table including Dario Alioto, Jacobo Fernandez, and Ted Forrest.
12. Scotty Nguyen – After coming close to winning his fifth bracelet in Stud Eight-or-Better in 2007 (2nd and 4th in the SEOB events), then just missing the final table of the Main Event, Scotty came roaring back in 2008, making a final table in six-handed NLHE and then grabbing the $50,000 HORSE Championship. It’s not as if he’s not already known as one of the world’s most successful tournament players, but how about this resume: five bracelets, a WPT title, winning the Main Event, and now winning the HORSE?
13. Jens Voertmann – Jens won the $3,000 HORSE for his first bracelet.
14. Nenad Medic – Nenad won the Pot Limit Hold ‘Em Championship for his first bracelet.
15. Max Pescatori – Max won his second bracelet in 2008. He won in NLHE in 2006, and picked up #2 this year in Pot-Limit Hold ‘Em/Pot-Limit Omaha event.
16. Kenny Tran – I remember Brandon Adams telling me about Kenny Tran as somone we were going to start hearing a lot about. This was just before he finished fifth in the 2007 $50,000 HORSE. So many people started saying how great he was that I expected either (a) he’d disappear off the face of the Earth, or (b) he would top that performance. Nice to see he took the (b) route, winning his first bracelet in the 2008 Heads-Up Championship.
17. Rob Hollink – Rob quietly built himself an impressive poker resume before 2008. He had cashed 17 times in the World Series between 2001 and 2007, finished fifth in a Bellagio WPT event in 2005 and won a Bellagio NLHE event in 2006. But there was nothing quiet about his performance in 2008 – 3 cashes, including grabbing his first bracelet in the Limit Hold ‘Em Championship.
18. Martin Klaser – I think Martin’s story is one of the coolest in the history of Full Tilt. He’s, like, a kid, right? In Summer 2007, as part of Full Tilt’s Million Euro Challenge, he qualified online for a spot in a 2,100-player tournament in Cologne. From that tournament, he won a trip to Munich, where he and five others played for a €50,000 prize and a chance to play three Full Tilt pros heads up for a chance to win up to €1,000,000. He won the final table, then beat Chris Ferguson heads up. Then he beat Gus Hansen heads-up. He lost the million by losing to Howard Lederer but still took home €350,000. Then, in his first World Series cash in 2008, he wins the bracelet in Pot-Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better.
19. Jacobo Fernandez – After finishing third at the WPT L.A. Classic in 2007, Fermandez has been crushing big tournaments. He got everything but the bracelet at the 2008 Series: 7 cashes, 3 final tables including 4th in $5,000 NLHE, 3rd (to Layne Flack) in PLO-Rebuys, and 2nd in Pot Limit Hold ‘Em (to David Singer). Incredible all-around performance worth more than three-quarters of a million dollars.
20. Andy Bloch, Chris Ferguson & Erik Seidel – None of these three superb players won a bracelet in 2008, but they all displayed tremendous skill and heart throughout the Series. In the first event, the Pot-Limit Hold ‘Em Championship, he came achingly close to his first bracelet, finishing runner-up to Nenad Medic. He cashed four more times, including in the $50,000 HORSE. He also made the final table of the Limit Hold ‘Em Championship. Chris Ferguson also cashed five times, having what I think was his best Series since winning two bracelets in 2003. He finished third in Event #2, the massive $1,500 NLHE with nearly 4,000 starters. Then he finished second in the Stud Eight-or-Better Championship. And Seidel? He had 4 cashes and 2 final tables. His highest finish was 4th, so while that’s a great Series for anyone else, it’s kinda ordinary for Erick, isn’t it? Consider this: In the Stud Championship, they paid 16. When there were 18 left, Seidel had barely more than the bring-in. Yet he hung on and not only made the money but the final table as well and $92,000. More important, 2008 is an even-numbered year. Seidel has won his last four (of eight) bracelets in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007. (In 1999, he didn’t win a bracelet but finished fourth in the Main Event.) In contrast, here is what he’s done in even-numbered years: One cash in 2000; two cashes in 2002, one final table; four cashes in 2004 but the biggest was $38k; three cashes in 2006 but the highest finish was 34th. So with Seidel winning a WPT event and having the kind of Series he had this year, even though it was an even-numbered year, I say, “Look out in ‘09!”
21. Michael DeMichele & Matthew Glantz – I don’t know anything about these guys but they’re both like Rambo, so the fault is clearly mine. They each had two cashes in the 2008 World Series, and they both made final tables in both of the most diabolical events of the Series. In the World Championship Mixed Event, which incorporates the HORSE games and NLHE and PLO, DeMichele finished 4th and Glantz took 3rd. Then, in the $50,000 HORSE, they both made the final table again. Glantz finished 4th and DeMichele finished 2nd. Just incredible work by both of them. In both events. Both.
22. Greg Mueller – For the second straight year, Greg played brilliantly, only to just miss out on a bracelet. This time, he had four cashes and finished runner-up in the NLHE Shootout.
I’m sure I’m missing some good performances and I apologize. I just pieced this together out of what I remembered and some fast research. My point isn’t that these were the only players who did really well. It’s that it was such a pleasure witnessing so many fine performances by so many good poker players. To me, that makes the 2008 World Series of Poker some kind of high water mark for the game.
