WSOP latest

More results to bring you from the Olympics and World Cup of poker rolled into one – the 2006 World Series.

Following Australian Joe Hachem’s win in the big one last year, and his strong showing in Event #5, when he narrowly lost to Russ ‘Dutch’ Boyd; fellow Aussie Mark Vos has taken down Event #6 which Erik Seidel won last year.

Event #6 was the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament with a total prize pool of $3,492,580 and 1,919 runners.

Vos, a Queenslander from Brisbane won $803,274 for his first place finish, edging out US pro Nam Le in the endgame, who picked up $401,647 for his troubles.

When heads-up play began, Nam Le enjoyed nearly a 3 to 1 chip advantage – 2,775,000 to Vos’ 1,065,000.

From there Vos got to work and picked away chips from Le’s stack and gradually built up a 2 to 1 chip lead.

The final hand came as Vos was dealt Q-10 suited against Le’s pocket sixes. After catching a queen on the flop, Vos bet out and Le called. A blank fell on the turn, and Vos bet again. Le called. The river brought a queen, giving Vos trip-queens. Vos moved all-in and Le, suspecting a bluff, called. The trip queens gave Vos the championship.

For Vos, it was just another day at work, and he has a interesting if slightly off-beat approach to work and poker.

He’s a man with a plan – to ‘work’ for the next five years and then ‘relax’ for the following five – and his ‘work’ right now is playing poker and cleaning up at the WSOP.

“(Winning) does not really change things,” he commented after the victory, only the third by an Australian in WSOP history. “I mean, it helps. But I still plan to play poker…..then (in five years) I’ll relax, settle down, and find a place to live and decide what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

He continued in typically down-to-earth Aussie fashion: “I prefer to play poker online. I still prefer cash games online, but there is nothing like the experience of playing in a live tournament and making it all the way to the final table. Cash games are my day job, but the tournaments are for excitement and fun.”

Other notables at the final table after three days of play were 2001 Main Event champ Carlos Mortensen, who exited first, and Vanessa Selbst who was the second female player to make a final table appearance at this year’s WSOP.

Event #6
$2,000 No Limit Hold’em
Final table results:

1. Mark Vos $803,274
2. Nam Le $401,647
3. J.R. Reiss $209,555
4. Thomas Hunt $160,659
5. Willard Chang $136,211
6. Kevin Peterson $115,255
7. Vanessa Selbst $101,285
8. David Wells $87,315
9. Carlos Mortensen $73,344

Event #7, the $3,000 Limit Hold’em has also finished with William Chen of Lafayette Hills, Pennsylvania, scooping a first place prize of $343,618.

The smaller 415 player field reflected the level of interest in Limt Hold’em, but this variant is a technical discipline.

This was the second limit hold’em event of this year’s World Series. No-limit might have eclipsed limit poker as “the game,” but both limit events played so far this year have exceeded last year’s record numbers in attendance.

The winner, Chen, who has a PhD from Berkley, was able to bring to bear all his mathematical skills and close it out.

He beat Rich Zhu in heads up play with a combination of aggression and quality decision making. Zhu collected $184,409 for his efforts.

Event #7
$3,000 Limit Hold’em
Final table results:

1. William Chen $343,618
2. Yueqi “Rich” Zhu $184,409
3. Henry Nguyen $91,632
4. Karlo Lopez $80,178
5. Danny Ciasamella $68,724
6. Larry Thomas $57,270
7. Allan Puzantyan $45,816
8. Ernie Scherer III $34,362
9. Jeffrey Lisandro $22,908