WSOP Update 1

While no bracelets have been handed out yet, currently there are three events being contested and each is actually kind of interesting.

Event 1 is the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold 'Em. With a meager $500 buy in, this is open to (you guessed it) casino employees and has been the traditional first event at the WSOP for some years now. At the end play yesterday they were down to four players and will settle the matter today. Currently in second place is Jason Baker who calls Calgary home, so this gives me someone to root for. I'm wondering if he could he be that dealer from the Stampede Casino named Jason. Couldn't be the same guy, could it?

Event #2 is the Heads Up No-Limit Hold 'em Championship. Heads Up means that two players battle each other until one is knocked out, with the winner advancing to the next round. I was amused to see that in the second round a very close and hard-fought battle occurred between Kenny Tran and John Juanda, in which Juanda finally emerged as the winner. This amused me because I didn't know who Kenny Tran was until I read Jerry Yang's book All In, in which Kenny Tran comes off like a total jerk who tries to bully Yang and mocks his overt Christianity. Well after Jerry Yang, John Juanda is probably the most earnest Christian to be found among the sinners of the poker world, so I imagine losing to him was particularly bitter for Tran. Ha ha. Anyway they are down to eight players now, including Gus Hansen and Canadian Matt Marafioti.

Event #3 is Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better. It would take me a whole blog post to explain how this game is played. All you need to know is that among the remaining 210 players (out of the 925 who entered) are some pretty big names, including Barry Greenstein, Humberto Brenes, T.J. Cloutier (Go T.J.!), Erik Seidel and Men Nguyen.

Despite this rather interesting start to the 2011 WSOP, the big story is that poker superstar Phil Ivey has chosen not to play any WSOP events this year in sympathy for all the Americans who have had their Full Tilt accounts frozen by the FBI. Phil has also announced a lawsuit for over $150,000,000 against Tiltware the company that supplied Full Tilt with the money transfer software.

Stay tuned.