World Series of Poker - Day Five Final Report

July 14, 2005

John Caldwell

World Series of Poker - Day Five Final Report 0001

The WSOP is back where it belongs. At Binons.

When I found out the WSOP was moving to the Rio almost a year ago, I was saddened. For better, or worse the traditionalist in me had to give way to the realist, and I understood that the WSOP had simply outgrown the home it had known for 30+ years. I still stay downtown whenever I can, and I am very happy to return there today with the WSOP.

The move to Rio also included a return for the final 27 players to the casino where this great tournament was born. At 3pm today, the 27 players who are still alive will resume play today at Binions, and play until they find out which nine make the final table, and are guaranteed at least one million dollars.

Yesterday's fast play stayed on par with the rest of the tournament, and as I predicted, we were done four hours earlier than we had been any other night of the main event. At about 9:35pm, Greg Rice was eliminated by Mike Matusow, and we were done for the night.

Speaking of Matusow - he, Phil Ivey, and Greg Raymer are the only name players left in the field of 27, but they also happen to have three of the top five chip counts going into today. This bodes well for having some known quantities at the final table, and you can see the drool on the faces of the ESPN executives at the thought of having a couple of these three guys at the final table.

The feelgood story of the tournament is that of Tiffany Williamson, and the story will continue for at least another day. The lone woman left in the event is at exactly 1,000,000 in chips heading to Binions, which is about ½ the average. Tiffany was cruising along, until she ran into Raymer's KK, and was clipped way down. She managed to double up late, and sits with 1,000,000 in her stack. With only a few minutes left before the blinds go up to 25,000/50,000, Tiffany has a little time to maneuver, but not a whole lot.

Thirty-One players left us today, and I think most of them would consider this a successful WSOP. Probably the most disappointed has to be Fred Bonyadi, who went from being third in chips beginning the day to out in 41st place, for $235,390.

Notable players who left us today included day 1 A chip leader Lee Watkinson, who finished in 45th place, and picked up $235,390. Right above Lee in the bustouts was TV host Kenna James, who got broke in 44th place, and picked up the same money as Watkinson. Top online player 'Neverwin' (Dustin Woolf) lasted to 32nd place, good for $274,090, which will fund a lot of deposit bonuses. John Juanda almost made it to the final 27, but fell just short of an appointment at Binions, and left in 31st place for the same $274k as Woolf.

The story has now come full circle, back to Binions. Raymer will try to win his second straight, Matusow will try to make this past 12 months both the worst, and now the best of his life, and Phil Ivey will try to cement his legacy as the Tiger Woods of poker with a sixth bracelet. All of this will happen where it should be happening - the place on Fremont Street where Benny Binion decided to have Johnny Moss play Nick the Greek out in the storefront window. The popularity of these matches set a light bulb off in Benny's head, and the rest is history. Chip counts, and day five bustouts are below. See you tomorrow.

Chip counts entering Day Six -

Mike Matusow $5,140,000 in chips

Phil Ivey $4,635,000

Steven Dannenmann $4,300,000

Tex Barch $3,900,000

Greg "Fossil Man" Raymer $3,840,000

Brad Koudrachi $3,160,000

Joseph Hachem $3,125,000

Scott Lazar $3,025,000

Michael Kessler $2,700,000

Daniel Bergsdorf $2,550,000

Andrew Black $2,090,000