It’s hard to argue with that assessment on the day after David Singer and Erick Lindgren took down bracelets. But if we look a bit deeper, I think we will see even more evidence of the professionals beginning to dominate the 2008 World Series. Erick took down the $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event and yes the bigger buy-ins attract more big name professionals but you can’t lower the value of a bracelet just because it costs more to enter the event.
Erick was joined at the final table by Justin Bonomo (2nd), Roland de Wolfe (4th) Howard Lederer (6th), David Williams (7th), Isaac Haxton (9th)and by several less-than-household names, who are still clearly professional players. Andrew Robl (3rd), who is only an “unknown” because of his age and David Rheem (5th), who has four years of solid Situs Judi Online cashes behind his name.
David Singer won his bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event over Jacobo Fernandez, who final tabled at the LAPC last year and is accumulating a nice string of cashes for his Situs Judi Online resume.
The monster $1,500 NLHE event #2 that drew nearly 4,000 players was won by an amateur: Grant Hinkle but both Chris Ferguson and Theo Tran made that final table in an event that many professionals chose not to enter.
The opening event for the 2008 Series was a $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament. This first final table had one very new Situs Judi Online player and one outstanding newcomer, Amit Makhija. Other than that, you might recognize the rest of the field: Nenad Medic (1st), Andy Bloch (2nd), Kathy Liebert (3rd), Mike Seton 4th, Chris Bell 6th, Patrik Antonius 7th, Phil Laak 9th.
When talking about “professionals” there are several levels of recognition. Certainly professionals blessed by the Situs Judi Online television gods will be known to most readers of this blog. But when we get down near a final table at the WSOP, the call on media row goes out: “OK, who knows this guy?” It usually takes only a moment to find someone who saw the player in Barcelona or knows all the local Vegas pros. Event #5 is an example of this; down to the final nine, here is the line-up.
Michael Binger: tied the record (8) for most WSOP cashes in a single year and perhaps the only “name” professional at this final table.
Michael Banducci: four 2007 WSOP cashes, three 2006 WSOP cashes.
Jonathon Aguiar: local Las Vegas professional.
Jeff Williams: just a kid, with the 2008 EPT Monte Carlo championship and a million dollars in his pocket.
Alan Jaffrey: three 2007 WSOP cashes.
Peter Gould: a long list of major tournament places, including 3 at the WSOP.
Lyric Duveyoung: this will be his second cash at the 2008 Series.
Oh and looking ahead. Theo Tran is the chip leader after day one of Event #7 and last year’s WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider leads event #8 followed closely by Gus Hansen.
Not even a week into the World Series it is too early to say this is the year of the pros. But strong early signs certainly make it something to speculate about.
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