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2008 WSOP Diary, June 8: Ladies Event Starts, Events 9 and 10 Finish

By launchpoker, Jun 9, 2008
2008 WSOP Diary, June 8: Ladies Event Starts, Events 9 and 10 Finish


  Anyone who remembers the Saturday Nigh Live character Leon Phelps (The Ladies Man), knows that Mr. Phelps would have gone into synaptic shock today if he saw the parade of poker's finest female players taking their seats for the WSOP Ladies event. This particular tournament has become a popular tradition that is over three decades long. While an event is exclusive to the XX chromosome set, the poker action is of a quality that would make the best male players underdogs to reach the final table.



  Sally Boyer will be defending her title from last year against a field of players that includes such past champions as Mary Jones and Jennifer Tilly. We will see who comes out of this first day to continue the hunt. The one thing that is for sure is that there will be blood (in a figurative sense. In reality, the one thing we really know for sure is that there will be margaritas and umbrella drinks).



  Both Event #9 ($1,500 No Limit Holdem) and Event #10 ($2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight-or-Better) declared winners today. 37-year-old professional poker player from Woodinville, Washington, Rep Porter took home a bracelet today at Event #9 and Farzad Rouhani claimed the Event #10 championship.



  Both players, of course had comments about their wins, but Porter's was the most interesting. In the post tourney interview he stated, "I'm on cloud nine right now. I've been trying to win a gold bracelet for three years." There are some very good players who are entering into their second and third decades of the bracelet hunt. While we congratulate him on his three years of hard work to get the bracelet, he may be the victim of some WSOP style justice by those World Class Players who think carping about a three year wait for the bracelet is in poor taste.



  We will also be seeing and Event #11 winner very soon and Event #12 seems to be looking a whole lot like the scheduling debacle that was Event #2.



  We are now 20% through the World Series of Poker, and the big names have yet to make a meaningful splash. They are going to have to raise their game if they are going to start taking bracelets from players who are not household names. Of course the WSOP is often a launching point for new stars, so people coming out of left field to take down Championships are not a bad thing.