FIRST 2008 WSOP EVENT FINAL TABLE SET

The $10 000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em tourney - Event 1 at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas -  entered its third day over the weekend with a final table comprised of some of the toughest poker players in the business. With Andy Bloch the chipleader by a significant margin, the table featured Nenad Medic, Mike Sexton, Mike Sowers, Amit Makhija, Chris Bell, Phil Laak, Kathy Liebert and Patrik Antonius.
 
With play still ongoing as we went to press, Phil Laak and Mike Sowers had been eliminated in 9th and 8th places respectively, followed by Patrik Antonius (7th) after a clash with Bloch, and Chris Bell (6th) who was busted out by Medic. Amit Makhija (5th) went out next, leaving four players battling for the big money as we went to press - Medic, Liebert, Bloch and Sexton.
 
Day 3 followed a long and hard Day 2 in which the 70 survivors included Chris Ferguson, Beth Shak, David Benyamine, Hasan Habib, Anna Wroblewski, Dustin Woolf and Jennifer Harman, none of whom survived the day. The money bubble burst at position 36 after James Gorman was eliminated in 37th place, and the final table was decided when John Kabbaj was eliminated in 10th place with a consolation prize of $49 632 to set the final table.
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Event 2 - the $1 500 No-Limit Hold'em - also commenced over the weekend, again with an impressive array of well known and respected players. The indications are that the total entry field at 3 929 has broken previous records (3 151) for a non-Main Event tournament, suggesting that the global popularity of poker remains undiminished.
 
Among those competing in Event 2 are Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, Erick Lindgren, Jamie Gold, Mekhi Phifer, Barry Greenstein, Jeremy Roenick and Chris Ferguson, along with a strong feminine contingent feauturing Jennifer Harman, Beth Shak, Clonie Gowen, Jennifer Tilly, Melissa Hayden, Liz Lieu, Isabelle Mercier and Maria Ho.
 
Event 2's prize-pool is believed to be another record for this event at $5 363 085 guaranteeing cash to the last 378 players in action, and a winner's purse of $830 000.
 
At press time, attrition had reduced the Event 2 field drastically to 430 players, with names like Berry Johnston, David Pham, Joe Sebok, Clonie Gowen, Liz Lieu and Isabelle Mercier all saying goodnight.