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Shuffle up and Deal

July 3rd 2008 21:57
The World Series of Poker is finally underway and at the first break on Day 1A, which basically means they’ve hit the end of the first level.
Among some of the notable names participating in the first day are Dan Harrington, Scotty Nguyen , Josh Arieh, Barry Greenstein, Jason Lester, Jason Alexander (actor), Ray Romano, Paul Wasicka, Freddy Deeb, and Tuan Lam, the 2007 runner up.
There’s plenty more, but those are just a handful. No word yet on the total number of entries, but of note is that at the break, Svetlana Gromenkova, a top femael player from Russia, is among the early chip leaders at about 51,000.

Scotty Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen is at ESPN's featured table as the World Series of Poker main event gets underway

One of the most interesting things seen is Andrew Prock playing. Well, actually not playing anymore as he’s been eliminated already. But what makes it interesting is that Prock made the final table of the Limit Shoot Out Hold 'Em Even (event 53) that finished early Thursday morning (after 7 a.m.). While Prock was an early exit from the final table (8th), he lasted until after 3 a.m., making for probably little sleep before today’s main event.

He was gone from the main event going all in with AK of spades. His opponent held pocket jacks which held.
Maybe he had another commitment for later in the week?
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World Series of Poker - Main Event Winner's List
Year Winner Winning Hand Prize (US$) En-trants Runner-Up Losing Hand
2008            
2007 Jerry Yang 8-D 8-C 8,250,000 6,358 Tuan Lam A-D Q-D
2006 Jamie Gold Q-S 9-C 12,000,000 8,773 Paul Wasicka 10-H 10-S
2005 Joe Hachem 7-C 3-S 7,500,000 5,619 Steve Dannenmann A-D 3-C
2004 Greg Raymer 8-S 8-D 5,000,000 2,576 David Williams A-H 4-S
2003 Chris Moneymaker 5-D 4-S 2,500,000 839 Sam Farha J-H 10-D
2002 Robert Varkonyi Q-D 10-S 2,000,000 631 Julian Gardner J-C 8-C
2001 Juan Carlos Mortensen K-C Q-C 1,500,000 613 Dewey Tomko A-S A-H
2000 Chris Ferguson A-S 9-C 1,500,000 512 T. J. Cloutier A-D Q-C
1999 Noel Furlong 5-C 5-D 1,000,000 393 Alan Goehring 6-H 6-C
1998 Scotty Nguyen J-D 9-C 1,000,000 350 Kevin McBride Q-H 10-H
1997 Stu Ungar A-H 4-C 1,000,000 312 John Strzemp A-S 8-C
1996 Huck Seed 9-D 8-D 1,000,000 295 Bruce Van Horn K-C 8-C
1995 Dan Harrington 9-D 8-D 1,000,000 273 Howard Goldfarb A-H 7-C
1994 Russ Hamilton K-S 8-H 1,000,000 268 Hugh Vincent 8-C 5-H
1993 Jim Bechtel J-C 6-H 1,000,000 220 Glenn Cozen 7-S 4-D
1992 Hamid Dastmalchi 8-H 4-C 1,000,000 201 Tom Jacobs J-D 7-S
1991 Brad Daugherty K-S J-S 1,000,000 215 Don Holt 7-H 3-H
1990 Mansour Matloubi 6-H 6-S 895,000 194 Hans Lund 4-D 4-C
1989 Phil Hellmuth Jr 9-S 9-C 755,000 178 Johnny Chan A-S 7-S
1988 Johnny Chan J-C 9-C 700,000 167 Erik Seidel Q-C 7-H
1987 Johnny Chan A-S 9-C 625,000 152 Frank Henderson 4-D 4-C
1986 Berry Johnston A-S 10-H 570,000 141 Mike Harthcock A-D 8-D
1985 Bill Smith 3-S 3-H 700,000 140 T. J. Cloutier A-D 3-C
1984 Jack Keller 10-H 10-S 660,000 132 Byron Wolford 6-H 4-H
1983 Tom McEvoy Q-D Q-S 540,000 108 Rod Peate K-D J-D
1982 Jack Straus A-H 10-S 520,000 104 Dewey Tomko A-D 4-D
1981 Stu Ungar A-H Q-H 375,000 75 Perry Green 10-C 9-D
1980 Stu Ungar 5-S 4-S 385,000 73 Doyle Brunson A-H 7S
1979 Hal Fowler 7-S 6-D 270,000 54 Bobby Hoff A-C A-H
1978 Bobby Baldwin Q-D Q-C 210,000 42 Crandall Addington 9-D 9-C
1977 Doyle Brunson 10-S 2-H 340,000 34 Gary Berland 8-H 5-C
1976 Doyle Brunson 10-S 2-S 220,000 22 Jesse Alto A-S J-D
1975 Brian "Sailor" Roberts 9-S 9-H 210,000 21 Bob Hooks A-C K-D
1974 Johnny Moss   160,000 16 Crandall Addington  
1973 Walter "Puggy" Pearson A-S 7-S 130,000 13 Johnny Moss K-H J-S
1972 Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston K J   80,000 8 Walter "Puggy" Pearson 6 6
1971 Johnny Moss   30,000 6 Walter "Puggy" Pearson  
1970 Johnny Moss (awarded by a vote)   n/a 7 n/a  
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World Series of Poker time

July 2nd 2008 08:27
Thursday morning thousands of wanna-be millionaires will sit down around some green felt in hopes of winning the main event at the World Series of Poker.
It’s a event that has grown from just a handful of players playing on one day when it started years back to close to 10,000 players sitting down for an event that begins Thursday and ends in four months…literally.

This season, to help keep interest and suspense in the main event of poker, the first few rounds will be played in the next two weeks, but once the final table is set the event goes on hiatus until November.
That’s right, a four month break before we find out who the winner is.
The idea is partially based on coverage. As poker has grown, so has ESPN’s coverage, but ESPN covers a wide variety of events, and has several days of coverage on the main event. By the time they shoot edit and show footage of even the first day of the main event, the tournament is usually over, and the final table set. Thanks to the internet, news reports and other sources, the winner is well known before ESPN ever gets to show the final table.
Now ESPN will plan its coverage to lead right up to the final table, and by the time it happens in November, ESPN plans to shoot, edit and air the footage just a few hours after it ends, so there will be at least some suspense as to who wins.
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth has wo more bracelets and has cashed in more World Series of Poker events than anyone

Director of the WSOP Jack Pollack said the intent is to also build poker as a mainstream sport, and to do that they need to excite fans. He hopes this does that.

It’s a good idea, but it does have drawbacks. For starters, there is the unlikely, yet possibility that a final entrant dies in that four month span. Next, if one of the entrants is a foreigner, getting a second visa and trip back to the US can be an issue. Plus players would then have time to form alliances (collusion) which could go unnoticed at this point. Ad finally, it does kind of make the final a bit more interesting. Say for example two pros (Da Harrington and Chris Ferguson, for example) make the final table along side seven amateurs. Sure, the pros are better players, but the amateurs have a distinct advantage. How so? Harrington has written a couple of books, and there’s tons of poker footage on both Harrington and Ferguson. Four months these amateurs can study these pros and know almost every tick they may have.
Meanwhile, there’s nothing to study (except new ESPN footage and any hands you previously played against them) on the amateurs.

To say the least, it makes things more interesting. We’ll try to keep you updated on some of the interesting happenings at the main event. One thing of note is that if things keep going like they have so far at this year’s WSOP then it’s likely a pro wins as they have already won 23 of the 30 events. That means nothing in the big event, but it doesn’t mean that maybe the pros have finally gotten used to the flood of amateurs and they are again proving why they are indeed pro.

As for players to watch. I like John Phan who has already cashed four times in this years WSOP, including two bracelets. I also like Kenny Tran, who has yet to be a big name, but I think is finally starting to play some great poker. He has cashed twice and earned his first bracelet in this year’s heads up event. He should hold his own against a big field.
And finally I like Howard Lederer. He’s one that has been kind of off his game the last couple of year due to the growing field. But I think the man who can stare down anyone will find his groove again.
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Germans Downed By Torres

Fernando Torres image
Fernando Torres scored the only goal the Spaniards would need.


It wasn’t nearly as long as the Boston Red Sox, or the Chicago Cubs drought, but by soccer standards it was just as bad. The last time that Spain had won a soccer title was at the 1964 Euro Championship. That all changed when in the 33rd minute Fernando Torres broke out of the shadow of his teammate David Villa to score the only goal the Spainiards would need. With the goal they beat a strong German team that was playing in their seventh Euro Championship..

The German’s captain Michael Ballack did actually play in the game despite a tender right calf that threatened to make him miss the game.

Early in the match German Christoph Metzelder nearly scored a goal in his own net, luckily goalkeeper Jens Lehmann reacted quickly and stopped it from entering the net. Torres had other chances to score prior to his goal, he sent one header over the bar, and another off the bottom of the post which could have gone in if it were more accurate because he had Lehmann beat.

In the 29th minute the ref missed a call and wouldn’t change his mind after the ball bounced off of Fullback Joan Capdevila’s hand. Four minutes later Torres scored his goal by lifting a shot over a sliding Lehmann and into the corner. It is a good thing that Torres was able toto show why he is widely considered one of the best strikers in the world since Villa, the star of the team thus far in the Championships, was out with an injury.

Ballack setup Kevin Kuranyi with a cross, but goalkeeper Iker Castillas tipped it away harmlessly. Spain controlled the rest of the match, while Germany just couldn’t muster a successful attack.

Spain Hoists Trophy image
Spain hoists their well-deserved trophy in celebration.


The game would end 1-0 in favor of Spain. The win makes them just the third team wo have won multiple Euro Championships along with their opponents (3), and France (2).

The lineups for the teams were as follows:

Spain: Iker Castillas, Sergio Ramos, Carles Puyol, Carlos Marchena, Joan Capdevia, Xavi Hernandez, David Silva (Santi Cazorla, 66), Marcos Senna, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas (Xabi Alonso, 63), Fernando Torres (Dani Guiza, 78)

Germany: Jens Lehmann, Christoph Metzelder, Per Mertesacker, Philipp Lahm (Marcell Jansen, 46), Arne Friedrich, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Hitzlsperger (Kevin Kuranyi, 58), Torsten Frings, Michael Ballack, Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose (Mario Gomez, 79)
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UEFA European Championship Winners List (Soccer)

UEFA Logo

[ Click here to read more ]
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Scott Kalitta Killed in Crash During NHRA Qualifying


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Another Triple Crown flop

June 8th 2008 07:10
Rest easy Affirmed, your place in history is for now, and shall ever be secured.
Big Brown’s disaster in the Belmont should forever be proof that Affirmed will be the last horse ever to win the Triple Crown.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Why the Octopi?

May 24th 2008 01:05
Red Wings Octopus image
Meet Al, Die-hard Red Wings Fan



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Triple Crown threat?

May 18th 2008 09:30
The day belonged to Big Brown. He knew what he was there to do, and he delivered.

Jockey Kent Desormeaux had to do little to help Big Brown win Saturday’s Preakness in a landslide. About the only work Kent did was angle the horse to the rail early, then to the outside on the back stretch to keep him in position


[ Click here to read more ]
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Hi and welcome to the Two Guys Sports Blog. I am Gene, and he is Marc. Together we are Two Guys that love sports. We will be covering a variety of sports and related topics. We do hope you enjoy our writings.

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