The 2008 World Series of Poker is slowly coming to an end. The $10,000 buy-in Main Event started over one week ago and plays down to the final nine contestants on Monday. The Rio is literally the center of the poker universe right now. However, one tournament across town is about to kick off. The World Poker Tour is about to launch the Bellagio Cup IV, its first tournament of Season VII held on U.S. soil. The $15,000 buy-in event starts with Day 1A on Friday. The event will continue with Day 1B on Saturday and Day 1C on Sunday. Where you can catch the action from Season VII is still up in the air, as the WPT has yet to secure a television partner. Let’s travel to the Bellagio to check out last year’s Bellagio Cup tournament.
The Third Bellagio Cup was won by online poker sensation Kevin Saul, who is known in the online poker world as BeL0WaB0Ve. Saul was the chip leader virtually the entire tournament, eventually taking home $1.3 million and his first WPT title. He told the WPT after the tournament concluded, “I feel awesome. I played poker and dodged a lot of hands. The only thing I know that I’m going to do is spend money on my three nephews.” He defeated a star-studded table. Heads up, he took down Mike Matusow. Danny Wong (who also made the final table of Bellagio Cup II) and Shane “Shaniac” Schleger also finished in the top five.
Matusow has made the final table of three WPT tournaments (the others were the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic during Season III and the Bad Boys of Poker during Season IV). The Mouth also just took down his first World Series of Poker bracelet by virtue of winning the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball with Rebuys tournament (Event #18). Twenty tournaments later, the Full Tilt Poker pro had another final table appearance in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better tournament (Event #37). He’s pocketed over $2.8 million in his WSOP career. Scheleger finished fourth, cashing for $232,490. He is an idol in the online poker world.
This will be the first televised event of the WPT’s Seventh Season, but is already the second tournament of the new series. The Spanish Championship was played between May 23rd and May 27th. In the end, Casper Hansen took home €400,000 and a seat to the $25,000 WPT Championship at the Bellagio at the end of Season VII. Hansen defeated Stefan Mattsson heads up. Mattsson’s consolation prize was worth €220,000. Hansen had never cashed before on the World Poker Tour circuit.
Erik Friberg finished in seventh place. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Friberg finished eighth in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event (which was won by Jamie Gold). He won an incredible $1.9 million for that finish. In 2007, he proved he was not a one hit wonder by taking third in a $5,000 buy-in six-handed tournament.
Shannon Shorr took down Bellagio Cup II for $960,690. The inaugural Bellagio Cup in 2005 was won by Amnon Filippi. Making the final nine of the first Bellagio Cup were actor Tobey Maguire and poker legend Scotty Nguyen. Spiderman finished 292nd in last year’s Main Event. While it may not seem like a very high finish, he pocketed $39,445 for his efforts. Nguyen is the owner of five WSOP bracelets.
The final table of Bellagio Cup IV will take place on July 17th (next Thursday). We’ll have complete results for you from the land of the fountains, so keep checking back for more.
