July 11 | 4 a.m. ET
Well we finally have our bubble boy, as Hong Kong businessman Steve Chung busted out in 667th place at the main event late Thursday night. As you probably know by now, the final 666 players will all earn at least twice the $10,000 they invested to enter. The winner will take home around $9 million.
The race to the bubble is one of the most exciting parts of the main event as the short stacks try to hang on, the sharks try to take advantage of tentative play and everyone waits to hear the magic words: "Ladies and gentleman we have our bubble boy."
For an idea of what the race is like, click this story from last year.
For his part, Chung was rather nonchalant, saying “It’s just the luck of the draw. He wanted to gamble, so oh well.”
But he might be kicking himself later when he finds out that another player was only a few hands from busting out. Argentinian Fernando Gordo never showed up on Thursday, and as per rules, his chip stack of $137,900 was slowly blinded off as the day wore on.
Reports had Gordo with less than $2,000 when Chung went bust.
OUCH!
Some good clicks ...
- Is this man a genius, or is everyone else really, really dumb? Either way, he just might be sleeping his way to the top. This Dutch guy, Yde Van Deutekom, 22, figured out he could sell advertisements to his web site, which shows him sleeping. People click to watch him sleep, he makes money (about $19,000 so far, according to him). He did get out of bed, however, to play in the main event.
- Man vs. Machine: This time the computer wins.
- Are you a donkey? Don't feel too bad.
July 10 | 9 p.m. ET
The day's roundup (from The Associated Press)
DAY: 7 (Officially known as Day 3).
BIG NEWS: An excruciatingly slow hand-for-hand crawl at the World Series of Poker ended Thursday when a Hong Kong banker became a hero to the 666 remaining players, busting out of the main event and bringing everyone left prize money.
Steve Chung, 45, needed an eight to show up in five community cards to give him a third and crack the pocket kings of his opponent in the no-limit Texas Hold ’em tournament, but it never came and Chung was eliminated in 667th place.
The final 666 players represent the top 9.7 percent of a field of 6,844, all gunning for a chance at the title and the $9.12 million top prize.
STUD OF THE DAY: Poker pro Vanessa “Lady Maverick” Rousso, who found several good spots to go all-in and improve her short chip stack. At one point, she pushed in all her chips while holding pocket jacks with a two, four and six showing on the board. An opponent called with a suited 7-4 but did not improve, and Rousso moved up to 78,000 chips.
BUSTED OUT: 2003 champion Chris Moneymaker, eight-time gold bracelet winner Erik Seidel, two-time bracelet winner Jennifer Harman-Traniello.
UP NEXT: The remaining field of players will play 10 hours of poker Friday to try to position themselves toward the final table, having already guaranteed themselves money in the tournament.
POKER TALK: Monster: A very big hand or a player who has accumulated an enormous amount of chips in a tournament. Brian Schaedlich began Thursday as a chip monster, with 801,000 in chips and a 270,000 chip lead over the next closest player. But he lost more than 306,000 chips when Jeff Kimber turned over a monster hand, pocket queens for three queens on a board showing a queen, three and five. Schaedlich lost holding a pair of aces.
HE SAID WHAT?: “I know he’s got nothing and I’ve got nothing. Those cards are going right there.” — Barry Leventhal, 44, of New York, who went all-in during the first level of play Thursday for 35,200 in chips, and began a long monologue directed at the player seated next to him, who took several minutes before folding.
July 10 | 12 a.m. ET
No repeat for Jerry Yang
For the 20th straight year, the main event will have a new champion, as Jerry Yang busted out of the main event on Wednesday.
Only four players have won the main event two years in a row, none since Johnny Chan pulled it off in 1987-88. The others are Johnny Moss, 1970-71, Doyle Brunson, 1976-77 and Stu Ungar 1980-81. View a list of champs here.
The end of Yang's reign will probably bring a sigh of relief from the poker community, as reaction from the hardcore folks to Yang's championship have ranged anywhere from disinterest to outright hatred.
(His ouster was actually met with some rather humorous mockery here on Wednesday.)
Yang turned off many by promoting his strong faith. Now even though talk of religion can make professional liars squirm in their seats, that's not necessarily a bad thing. As an immigrant from Laos who has known poverty and hard times (his family spent four years in a refugee camp in Thailand), he espoused the value of family and pledged 10 percent of his $8.25 million haul to charity.
But in tight spots during his 2007 run, Yang would occasionally call out to God, asking for particular cards to help his hand. It came across at best as cheesy, at worst as disingenuous and blasphemous.
He was also viewed by more talented players as something of a donkey (poker slang for bad player), who was lucky to win (or was it God's work?). Furthermore, his devotion to family and lack of experience made him unlikely to be a good ambassador for the game, and has been accused of being an "invisible champ."
So let's review the book on Yang.
- Nice guy
- Family man
- Very religious
- Not a great poker player
Good news for the world in general, but bad news for poker, and the game has been searching desperately for a new ambassador after the disastrous reign of 2006 champ Jamie Gold.
On a recent ESPN poker podcast, Yang defended himself vigorously, saying he had not been invisible at all, but had done a lot of charity work and had played numerous tournaments. He simply hadn't ... uhhhh ... done very well in the events he'd entered.
So let's be fair to the departing champion. It wasn't that he didn't try to promote poker. He just wasn't good enough.
Some good clicks ...
- A great moment in irony: A drunken Scotty Nguyen rags on another player for being obnoxious after winning hands. (Pokernews.com)
- 10 best poker tells. And how to avoid giving away your tells? Cut your head off! (Youtube.com)
- Who needs the Olympics? The Asian Poker Tour hits China in August. (Asianpt.com)
- How do you know you're getting old? When 4-5 hours of signing autographs makes you too tired to play poker. Yep, Doyle Brunson's mailing it in. (CardPlayer.com)
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
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