A lot of people have complained that watching the World Series of Poker over the last few years was kind of like viewing a good independent movie. It was interesting with some intriguing story lines, but seriously lacked anything that resembled a recognizable star. This was not the case with the Event #1 final table. The last players standing (metaphorically) during the $10,000 Pot Limit Holdem Championship were some of the most recognizable people in the sport.
Mike Sexton, Kathy Liebert, Patrik Antonius, Phil Laak, Nenad Medic, and others were among a very competitive final table. It started off fast and furious with Patrik Antonius abusing Phil Laak's pocket jacks, and doubling up. Phil didn't seem to learn his lesson and came back shortly afterwards with the same two jacks and found himself on the painful end of an all in gambit. He was eliminated by eventual winner Nenad Medic.
The action continued in this manner with Sexton busting the internet sensation Mike "SowersUNCC" Sowers, and sending him out while Patrik Antonius was punted by Andy Bloch.
Kathy Liebert started the day with one of the smallest stacks, but managed to hang on until she reached the final four. After pushing Sexton out the door, she simply didn't have the chips to compete with Bloch and Medic, and was soon gone herself.
Nenad's chip lead was greater than 2 to 1 and after an hour of one-on-one play, he eliminated Andy Bloch and was awarded the first World Series of Poker bracelet of the season. This event started the whole series off with a bang, and is hopefully an example of what we will see throughout the entire World Series of Poker this year.
We congratulate Nenad Medic on his performance and look forward to seeing if he can repeat this again between now and July 14th.
The final table players and their winnings are as follows:
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | Nenad Medic | $794,112 |
| 2 | Andrew Bloch | $488,048 |
| 3 | Kathy Liebert | $306,064 |
| 4 | Mike Sexton | $248,160 |
| 5 | Amit Makhija | $198,528 |
| 6 | Chris Bell | $157,168 |
| 7 | Patrik Antonius | $124,080 |
| 8 | Mike Sowers | $99,264 |
| 9 | Phil Laak | $74,448 |
