One of the staples of World Series of Poker tournaments are marathon matches. I remember covering the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event (the year that Jamie Gold won). Play would start every day around noon and wrap up 16-17 hours later. The next day, everyone would stumble back to the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino to start all over again. In shootout events, advancing through the tournaments works slightly differently. Instead of collapsing tables, each step in the process becomes the equivalent of a sit and go tournament. If you win your table, you move on. If you don’t, you’re knocked out of the tournament. There were 823 entrants into Event 53 of the 2008 WSOP, a $1,500 Limit Shootout tournament. In the end, Matt Graham defeated Jean-Robert Bellande to take home his first WSOP bracelet.
Graham is one of the stars of the online poker world. He’s been on a tear at the 2008 WSOP. In fact, Event 53 marked his fourth cash of the World Series. For winning the limit hold’em shootout event, Graham pocketed $278,180; he also finished 31st in Event 1 for $23,162. His four cashes put him well over the $325,000 mark for 2008. Heads up, Graham defeated former Survivor contestant Jean-Robert Bellande, who won $173,564 for his second place finish. Bellande was voted out in eighth place during the recent Survivor: China installment of CBS’ hit television series. He stormed onto the poker scene in 2005, finishing third in a $10,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Championship at a WSOP Circuit Event at the Rio, cashing for $210,900. His lifetime WSOP and Circuit Event earnings amount to $431,000.
The payouts in this tournament were structured so that places 10-90 each paid $5,055. Every person eliminated during that round of tournament play wound up with the same amount of money. However, given the gigantic prize escalations between 10th ($5,055) and first ($278,180), many players tightened up dramatically. After all, the only way to advance is to dominate your table. Play between Bellande and Graham lasted from 10pm to 7:30am, one of the latest days of play at the 2008 World Series of Poker. Play started at 2pm, which meant that a 17 ½ hour marathon Wednesday occurred for the two finalists. It’s all part of the experience at the WSOP.
Poker pro Hoyt Corkins led a small team of notable poker players that cashed in this event. He finished 41st and took home $5,055. Corkins is a two-time bracelet winner, with victories coming in 1992 and 2007. He’s logged four cashes at the 2008 WSOP and has nearly $900,000 in lifetime earnings. His largest WSOP cash came as part of his 2007 bracelet win, when he took down a $1,500 no limit six-handed event for $515,065. Former Hollywood actor and poker pro Kenna James finished 46th for his fourth cash of the 2008 WSOP. James finished 44th in the 2005 Main Event (which won by PokerStars pro Joe Hachem). Finally, bracelet winner Blair Rodman landed in 56th place. Rodman took down a $2,000 buy-in no limit event last year for his first WSOP bracelet. His first cash was in 1991.
The 2008 Main Event starts today from the Rio with a large crowd expected. Day 1-A kicks off at noon PT.
