Poker news from http://www.collegian.psu.edu/
For any Penn State student that plays poker, hearing that 8,773 players are registered for a tournament is almost as staggering as suffering a bad beat.
The main event at this year at the World Series of Poker, which began Day One on July 28, features the largest tournament crowd in poker history, and the biggest first-place prize in any sport or recreation event ever -- a cool $12 million.
The event is considered the world championship of Texas Hold'em, and every year more and more people put up the $10,000 buy-in to play with the best in the world on poker's biggest stage.
After surviving the early blind levels and the wave of players who came to Las Vegas without a realistic shot of winning, the intensity picks up as players fight to finish in the money -- the top 873 finishers are guaranteed at least $10,616.
Today will mark Day Ten of the tournament, starting up with about 60 players left looking to accumulate chips for a run at the final table. Anyone making it to the final nine will be a part of the media frenzy covering it and wouldn't walk away with anything less than $1.5 million.
It's hard to imagine how sitting in a chair for a couple weeks could net a person $12 million in cash, but that is exactly what anyone watching the final table will see on Thursday when a champion is crowned. The marathon of a tournament will start its sprint to the finish at 3 p.m. Eastern time that day.
Even though most people don't consider Hold'em poker a sport, ESPN will be airing the final table live on a pay-per-view special. The broadcast will give people a chance to see more drama and entertainment than occurs in almost any individual sporting event such as golf, tennis, or car racing.
The main event of the World Series of Poker is one of the rare times when ordinary guys, some who were never athletic enough to compete at a high level of sports, can make more money than a professional athlete, and for a short time be just as famous.
So, on Thursday, you should order the final table of the main event on ESPN pay-per-view. You'll probably see grown men screaming, yelling, crying, and hugging their friends and family as they became millionaires by playing a game so many people enjoy.
Notable Busts
According to the hand history on Cardplayer.com, here are how some of the big-name pros exited from this year's main event.
Phil Hellmuth -- After winning his record-tying 10th World Series of Poker bracelet, Hellmuth's exit from the main event probably wasn't as loud and obnoxious as in years past. Just like 2005, Hellmuth was all-in for a coin-flip situation with and ace and a queen against an opponent's pocket sevens. Hellmuth failed to improve and ended his successful run at this year's World Series, busting on Day One of the main event.
Phil Ivey -- Finishing 20th in last year's main event, this year's tournament wasn't so kind, as he was eliminated early on last Friday. Sitting short stacked with $18,000, Ivey pushed all in with Qh-8h, and was called by an opponent with Ah-9s. The flop came Jh-9h-5s, giving Ivey a gut-shot straight flush draw, plus the queen as an over card. Ivey failed to catch one of his outs and his opponent's pair of 9s held up.
Bad Beat
Early on Day One, a player with 8s-8c was all-in and was called by an opponent with 5h-5c. The flop was 6s-5s-5d, giving one-player quads on the flop, while the player with 8-8 had only a 0.3 percent chance of winning. The turn was the 9s, giving the player with pocket 8s a gut-shot straight flush draw. The 7s fells on the river, and the worst beat possible occurred at the worst possible time for one player.
Most deserving bust
Last Wednesday, the fourth place finisher in 2005 Aaron Kanter was knocked out. Kanter was made famous for his horrendous call with nothing more than a flush draw on the turn that crippled Greg "Fossilman" Raymer during last year's Wolrd Series of Poker when he tried to repeat as main event champion
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