2007 World Series of Poker

Event 1 - $5,000 Mixed Holdem
Day: 1
Event Info

2007 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k2
Prize
$536,287
Event Info
Buy-in
$5,000
Entries
451

Chau Giang Loses Chips

Chau Giang took a hit early on when his opponent flopped a full house. He lost about 10% of his stack on that hand. He also lost a race with J-J against A-K. Giang was last seen on the rail explaining his early beats to a friend.

Tags: Chau Giang

New Cards -- But Are They New & Improved?

One of the "improvements" that Harrah's has implemented this year is brand new decks for every day of the bracelet events. The new decks are called "Poker Peek," but it wasn't clear what had changed about them.

Now, in the first few hands, we know what has changed. And the criticisms from the players are harsh.

Mike Matusow was frothing at the mouth, and yelled, "Did you see these cards? You can't see the cards! Where's Jeffrey Pollack?"

Doyle Brunson took his seat next to Layne Flack, ready to play his first hand of the 2007 World Series of Poker. But when he checked his cards, he had to do a double take. "What the hell are these?"

It gets worse. Two players have already asked for a refund. Johnny Chan has complained and threatened to refuse to play. Daniel Negreanu called them the worst cards he's ever played with.

Before the tournament began, Chad Layne said he had been playing some satellites, and watched as players misread their hands -- in some cases, even the dealers. Layne got some practice in, and feels ready to deal with the cards now that there are bracelets at stake.

What's the problem? The six and the nine are particularly problematic, and easily confused with each other. The "pips" in the center of the card are much smaller than normal, and contained in a box. Instead of having large numbers in the top left and bottom right corners, they are sort of in the lower left and top right -- and that's what makes the sixes and the nines confusing, because the six is in the general area where an upside-down nine would normally appear.

There are still numbers in the upper left corner, but they are extremely small and at an angle, and they're easy to overlook.

T.J. Cloutier, who is on the Player's Advisory Committee, claims that these are *not* the cards that the players approved. (He's also asked to speak to Jeffrey Pollack.) That's an interesting wrinkle -- perhaps there are better cards somewhere, waiting in the wings?

The big question for now is this -- How quickly can Harrah's fix the problem? Or, is it possible for the players to adapt?

Tags: Chad LayneDaniel NegreanuDoyle BrunsonMike MatusowNew CardsPoker PeekT.J. Cloutier

Phil Ivey Takes His First Pot

It's understandable that players might be a bit hesitant entering a pot against Phil Ivey, so when Ivey joined two other limpers in a pot the blinds went along for the ride. After an ominous {A-Spades} {A-Diamonds} {K-Spades} flop the action was checked around, and when the {10-Diamonds} turned Ivey called a 200 bet from the player in the big blind. The big blind checked the {7-Diamonds} on the river and elected to call Ivey's 600 bet. Ivey turned over the {J-Diamonds} {5-Diamonds} for the backdoor flush and took down his first pot of the World Series.

Tags: Phil Ivey

Allen Cunningham Eliminated

Players are still milling about and just that fast Allen Cunningham has the rest of the day to catch up with folks he hasn't seen since last year's WSOP. After seeing a flop of {10-Diamonds} {5-Clubs} {6-Hearts} Cunningham and the player in the cutoff checked. After the {2-Clubs} appeared on the turn the other player bet 1,000 and Cunningham came over the top for all his chips. The other player called and turned over the {7-Clubs} {9-Clubs} for a flush and gutshot draw, but Cunningham held the {K-Clubs} {Q-Clubs} for a bigger flush draw. And then, on the river, the {7-Diamonds} hit to cruelly end Cunningham's day.

Tags: Allen Cunningham

What's Mixed Hold'em?

Today's event will feature a mixture of both Limit and No Limit Hold'em. Play will switch back and forth between the two formats.

Level 1 will start with No Limit.

Shuffle Up and Deal!

WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack kicked off the festivites by thanking the sponsors and then introducing Tournament Director Jack Effel who mentioned three golden rules:

#1. If you are not at your seat when the cards are dealt, you have a dead hand.

#2. If you on a cellphone or text messaging when the cards are dealt, then your hand will be ruled dead.

#3. This is a non-smoking facility.

After he mentioned the rules, Effel handed the microphone over to last year's WSOP main event champion Jamie Gold. A few boobirds in the back then rained down a short chorus of boos.

Gold kicked off the 2007 WSOP by saying the magical words... "Shuffle up and deal!"

Tags: Jamie Gold