McEvoy wins World Champs Event

World Champions Invitational

1. Tom McEvoy, USA, 1983 champion
2. Robert Varkonyi, USA, 2002 champion
3. Dan Harrington, USA, 1995 champion
4. Jim Bechtel, USA, 1993 champion
5. Carlos Mortenson, Spain, 2001 champion
6. Huck Seed, USA, 1996 champion
7. Berry Johnston, USA, 1986 champion
8. Doyle Brunson, USA, 1976 & 1977 champion
9. Peter Eastgate, Denmark, 2008 champion
10. Phil Hellmuth, USA, 1989 champion

As part of the ongoing 40th anniversary celebrations for the WSOP, this unique invitation only event for the former WSOP Main Event champions brought a touch of nostalgia and star power to the Rio’s Amazon room.

All 25 living champions were invited to compete with 20 taking up the offer. As this was a non-WSOP bracelet event, Harrah’s instead put up an unusual prize for the winner, a fully restored 1970 Corvette to commemorate the first year of the WSOP.

However, the real prize was undoubtedly the prestige of being crowned champion as Tom McEvoy stated shortly after his win, “I told all my friends that I wanted to win this tournament more than anyone else. I think I have been losing some respect because I have not won in some time, and I wanted this to regain that respect”.

McEvoy is most famous for becoming the first player to win the Main Event after qualifying through a satellite. Before his win in 1983 all players in the Main Event had had to pony up the $ 10,000 buy-in themselves, severely restricting the amount of players that could afford such an outlay. By qualifying for only $ 1,000 though McEvoy opened up a whole new aspect to big buy-in events, a legacy which still lives on today through the countless thousands of satellites and super satellites that exist both online and in live cardrooms.

Event #3: $ 1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo

It’s not often the case that one of the countless WSOP $ 1,500 events
throws up a story so incredible that it’s hard to believe. However, the
feat of Thang T. Luu in winning this tournament is one of those rare
instances.

Remarkably, Luu won this same event in 2008 and defended it successfully this year. It’s the first occasion since
Johnny Chan won back-to-back Main Events in 1987 and 1988 that a WSOP
bracelet event has been retained. As if that weren’t enough Luu also
came 2nd in 2007 in the same event!

It may not be everybody’s favourite
variant but Thang T. Luu certainly knows his Omaha Hi-Lo Eight or
Better…