The World Championship Seniors No-Limit Hold'em event came down to heads up between 55-year-old Encino, California Businessman Ernest Bennett and 64-year-old Boulder City Nevada humor and gaming Writer Tony Korfman (Author of Texas Hold'em - Tournaments, Cash Games and Embarrassing Social Gas and the Playing To Win Gaming Series). Play online poker.
Korfman cared little for the glory of World Series Gold and just wanted his piece of the prize pie. Bennett decided that was fine with him as long as he got the bracelet and so they chopped the first two prizes down the middle. Each grabbed $282,963 for their efforts. Play $500 match poker bonus.
PokerListings.com caught up with both players after the win to find out what their motivation was for deciding not to play things out. Women poker.
Mr. Bennett, you wanted this bracelet, why would you not want to fight for it?
Earlier I told him I admire him and I didn't want to play against him and I told him we would chop if it got down to us two, so I kept my word. I really wanted the bracelet and I said that earlier to him. He did not care as much.
Why do you admire him so much? Because he gave me his book and I read his book and he is a good poker player. I didn't want to be the one taking him down.
And you Mr. Korfman, why did you agree to chop?
There was a lot of money involved so why mess around? When you talk about the last part of a tournament it's a crap shoot; Anything can happen. We were fairly close and I don't want to shoot dice for $100,000.
Doesn't a WSOP Gold Bracelet mean anything to you?
Does it mean anything to me? I've got a very nice bracelet that my wife gave me a couple years ago and I wouldn't wear it anyway. I think the bracelet means more to some people than it does to others. If you have money you can buy all the bracelets you want.
It's all about the money. There's a chapter in my book talking about how I actually heard an announcer say that it's all about the bracelet, it's about the bragging rights, it's about the pride...It's all about the $$$$ing money! Play route 66 poker.
If you've got enough money you can buy a bracelet factory, you can buy all your friends bracelets and hire four or five people to call you everyday and tell you how proud they are of you.
I can help a lot of people with the money. I can't help people with a bracelet.
Who is it that you plan to help?
Our family has a scholarship foundation and we give away $10,000 in scholarships every year to students in Boulder City, Nevada (where he's lived for the past 30 years).
It's the Michelle Korfman Scholarship foundation. That was my daughter. She was kidnapped by a serial killer when she was 17. It was at the Meadows Mall here in Las Vegas. He got 11 girls all across the country and he killed them all. So every year we give away a lot of scholarship money, help some kids and do something in her memory.
That's a horrible story, but you have turned in to something very nice. At least the money will go to a good cause. What's your poker story Mr. Korfman? You've got this book, have you been playing long?
I started playing Hold'em about three or four years ago because I see this thing getting bigger and bigger and there's a lot of money in it.
There certainly is. Mr. Bennett, what's your background in the game?
I've won a number of poker tournaments, but they were all small ones. I've only been in one big tournament before and it was this one at the WSOP last year. This is my second one. Actually I have been playing poker since I was in school, all kinds of poker. Texas Hold'em, Seven-Card Stud, Hi-Lo Chicago.
You came into the table with an aggressive style today, was it all a part of a master plan to dominate the table then chop when you got heads up?
That's the way I've been playing for many years and when I walked in I said I want to win this. I wanted to win the bracelet.
You were pretty much making it $100,000 every hand just to see a flop.
A lot of people moved all in every time I raised their blind and I never folded once. I had to show the table that I was willing to gamble, so I called all the all in bets. That's my style of poker. I did slow down at one point for a short time. Your opponents know that you are raising every hand so you have to slow down at some point.
So what will you do with the money?
I will play some poker. I'm not sure about other events, but I will play in the Main Event for sure.
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Well, Mr. Bennett I'm sure we will see you there proudly wearing the bracelet and Mr. Korfman knows there's a lot of cash in the Main Event so there's a good chance we'll catch up with him in the big one as well. Download poker wallpapers.
Greg Hopkins (aka Yoda) won the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event yesterday at the 2007 World Series of Poker. (ImageMasters photo)
Event #37 - $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em - Greg Hopkins, who reminds us of that pointed-ear Jedi master from Star Wars thus explaining the peculiarly phrased, Yoda-like headline above, won this event after a two-hour long heads-up battle with Jason Newburger once Team Bodog poker player Yuval Bronshtein exited in third place. Hopkins earned $269,707, his first WSOP bracelet and a Corum watch. Play route 66 poker.
Event #38 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em - The final table has been set for this event and will begin at 2pm PDT. Catch the hour-delay webcast starting at 3pm at WorldSeriesof Poker.com. All eyes will be on Erica Schoenberg as she looks to become the second woman poker player to win a WSOP bracelet in an open event this year.
player Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo had this to say on his CardPlayer.com blog, " My table is pretty sick, however, and the one donkey we had busted, leaving no weak spots on the table." That's at an eight-handed table, so six of the chairs were strong (seven if you include ZeeJustin). We can attest to that as we spotted Doyle Brunson, Robert Williamson III, Phil Laak all sitting at his table. Day 2 begins at 2pm PDT. Play Event #40 - $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. - Well, the field was stacked to begin with, so it only follows that the remaining field for Day 2 of the event is as well. The players will redraw for table assignments, although the tables look to be just as difficult as yesterday. Team Bodog poker$500 match poker bonus.
Event #41 - $1,500 Mixed Hold'em poker tournament- Day 1 is complete with 125 players remaining, including Jeffrey Lisandro, who's near the top of the chip count days after winning his first WSOP bracelet. They will play down to the final nine today. Play begins at 3pm PDT.
Keep your browser pointed to our poker blog as we bring you live updates and coverage from the 2007 World Series if Poker.
Where would a greatest-moments-in-poker list be with out a blow-up from Phil Hellmuth? The Poker Brat's well-documented lambasting of fellow pro Hoyt Corkins at Foxwoods in Season 2 comes in at number 86 on the World Poker Tour's compilation of its 100 greatest moments. Download poker wallpapers.
"Can't hardly wait to get another crack at you, Hoyt," Hellmuth told the Alabama cowboy after taking beat after beat on the felt and pacing the casino floor during one of his more modest tirades. "It's just crazy how unlucky I get in these things." Play online poker.
The WPT has already worked its way to number 77 while counting down some of its most memorable moments in poker. Play route 66 poker.
At the bottom of the list in 100th position is a post-game interview with Freddy Deeb following the inaugural Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. The season pro had just been busted by a seemingly volatile young Dane and Deeb was not impressed by his poker tournament.
"Well, the guy that won the last hand from me, he played very bad, in my opinion," he told the WPT of future superstar Gus Hansen. Play $500 match poker bonus.
"I would like to play this game against him, everyday for the rest of my life. If he plays like that he could never beat me in the long run."
No word on whether Hansen has offered to test Deeb's theory.
Coming in at number 88 is Kenna James's loss of a WPT title after Alex Kahaner calls his all-in and sucks out for the win.
"This is the worst hand anyone will ever call an all-in with," Kahaner tells James.
"It's only for $500,000," James replies, pointing out the difference between the $1.1 million first-place prize and the $580,000 awarded to the runner-up.
Before pushing, Kahaner justifies his move by saying simply, "I want to go home." Stay tuned to our poker blog for more updates.
Online Poker site PKR has announced an agreement with Scotland's "T in the Park Festival", one of the biggest annual outdoor music festivals in Europe, to provide poker and casino games during the festival for the first time.
"Poker is the new rock and roll. So this is perfect for our user base - young and active people who love to have a great time and be social," says Simon Prodger, marketing director of PKR.
The PKR Fun Casino will be located next to the Futures Stage, and will offer festival goers the chance to try their hand at games such as roulette, blackjack and Texas Hold'em poker. Many prizes will be offered at the Casino for poker tournament players & women poker players.
The 2007 festival will take place July 6th, 7th and 8th. Download poker wallpapers.
The first 35,000 tickets went on sale shortly after the 2006 festival and were sold within 70 minutes. The entire 2007 event has now sold out, with a record time of 40 minutes taken to sell all tickets. The final batch of tickets, released on the 9th of March, sold out in less than 20 minutes. Play online poker.
T in the Park 2007 is notable as it is the first T in the Park to be held over three days.
This year Kinross will be welcoming an impressive range of performers including The Arctic Monkeys, Sinead O'Connor Razorlight, Snow Patrol, the Goo Goo Dolls Kings of Leon, Avril Lavigne, Klaxons and many more. Play route 66 poker.
The online poker room is running a series of online and live qualification poker tournaments exclusively for Japanese players. Over several months, a series of poker tournaments will culminate in a final game featuring a $20,000 prize package.
"We've been really impressed with the response from our Japanese players, many of whom are playing live poker for the first time ever," said Jonathan May, Everest Poker property manager. "These free tournaments give everyone the chance to show off the skills they've developed."
The winner of the May 12 live qualifier at Duke uses the screen name of AD1 when playing at Everest Poker. He's been playing online poker for ten months and plans to use the grand prize as an opportunity to visit other countries, if he wins. Namazu7 was the winner of the online qualifier held on May 17. An avid golfer and casino game-player, namazu7 plans on using the grand prize to take a company trip. The winner of the May 10 second chance tournament, alternative0, has been playing for 8 months. If they win, plan to use the grand prize money as a buy-in for WSOP 2008.
"The Everest Poker Japan Cup has brought together a wide variety of players," added May. "We look forward to seeing how everyone performs in this and other Japanese events."
The Everest Poker Japan Cup continues through Auguest More information about the Everest Poker Japan Cup can be found at http://www.everestpoker.com/promo/tournament/JapanCup . To register for the online qualifier, players & women poker players simply log into their Everest Poker account, click on the Multi Table tournament tab, select the online poker tournament in which they wish to participate in and register. Players who do not win their live event tournaments will be eligible to play in a special monthly "second chance" tournament. Details on participating at these special tournaments will only be available at the live tournaments. Download poker wallpapers.
For more information about Everest Poker, visit http://www.everestpoker.com. Everest poker offers fully-localized software for over fifteen languages, including Japanese. Players interested in joining the online poker room can download the free Everest Poker software. Poker tournament schedules are available through RSS and XML feeds. Stay tuned for updates from our poker blog.
Event #3 of the 2007 WSOP draws the third-highest player total in poker history
While preliminary reports and estimates were seemingly very wrong concerning the number of players that registered for the $1,500 buy-in event (something to do with double-counting pre-registrations), the hyperbole-ridden official “news flash” we received tells us that the number of players is actually a new record. The event still did break its own record from last year of 2,891, but also apparently set a record for poker as a whole.
The final tally of 2,998 players represents the highest number ever to enter a non-Main Event tournament and puts it third on the all-time list for entrants in a poker tournament. The record-setting prize pool will pay out the top 308 players with first place receiving $727,012.
In sadder news, both Josh Arieh and David Williams have busted out of their respective events. All bias aside, they both got in with the best hands and were delivered two sick beats.
Event #1 will play down to the final table tonight no matter how late, and Event #3 will wrap up at 2am.
The World Championship Seniors No-Limit Hold'em event came down to heads up between 55-year-old Encino, California Businessman Ernest Bennett and 64-year-old Boulder City Nevada humor and gaming Writer Tony Korfman (Author of Texas Hold'em - Tournaments, Cash Games and Embarrassing Social Gas and the Playing To Win Gaming Series). Play online poker.
