2008 WSOP Diary, July 1: Marty Smyth Takes Down Pot Limit Omaha World Championship

  The cheering section for Marty Smyth as he played for the Event #50 ($10,000 Pot Limit Omaha) championship may as well have been wearing togas and singing "Louie, Louie": they were that loud. This was the sort of rowdy crowd that would have been right at plotting the downfall of Dean Wormer with John Belushi and the boys during the film "Animal House". With these sorts of people cheering him on, it is no wonder that Marty lost track of his hand and didn't notice that his clubs were working themselves into a bracelet winning flush. According to the new champion, "I didn't realize I had clubs." "That's the God's honest truth," he said.  He had recovered his wits in time to notice the 6 of clubs that the deck produced as the hand's last card. The room exploded, and Marty Smyth was the newest bracelet winner added to the pantheon of WSOP champs.  While Marty was celebrating his success, another drama was playing out at Event #51 ($1,500 H.O.R.S.E.) Phil Hellmuth was only two eliminations away from claiming his 12th WSOP bracelet. Unfortunately, his remaining pair of competitors saw themselves as also being just two bodies shy of a championship. In the hand that saw the Poker Brat go away, Phil could only work with the pair of sevens the board had given him, while Tommy Hang could pair those sevens with two Queens of his own. In short, Tommy Hang eliminated the 11 time bracelet winner from the tournament in 3rd place.  On the other note, Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke is still hanging around in Event #52...