World
Poker Open - State of the Tournament Address
What
a success this tournament has been. The
joint venture between the Horseshoe and
the Gold Strike, in it's third year and
held upstairs in the Gold Strike's convention
area, has surpassed everyone's expectations.
And that's in spite of the terrorists'
actions, the new founded fear and hassle
of flying, and the downturn of our economy.
Through
14 events the entry totals when compared
to last years come up only 89 short. But
the prize pool totals are almost $29,000
more. Yesterday's Pot Limit Omaha with
rebuys had 35 more entries and a $116,400
bigger prize pool than last year's event.
Nothing's tapering off here.
The
runaway freight train in the form of Jimmy
Sommerfeld's super satellites have totaled
471 more entries than last year and a
prize pool of over $275,000. Last night
the supers put in 5 players to our $10,000
Championship Event and 37 overall. Jimmy,
Susan Albrecht, Kim Martin and Patti Fitzpatrick
had all done a marvelous job.
The
live action has been great. A ton of name
players have been drawn to these games.
Kudos to supervisors David Eglseder on
days, Al Giardino swing, and Tony Shelton
on grave, who've done an excellent job
whipping their crew together spreading
these games and providing the service
these players require.
There
is still time to come down and play. Live
action's still hot and the remaining tournaments
are Sunday's $2080 Limit Holdem, Monday's
$2080 No Limit Holdem, and Tuesday's $330
Limit Holdem with rebuys. Lot's of single
table satellites for these remaining tournaments
are still being spread by Terry Vanderlip
starting at 8:00 am and continued by Mark
Whetstone in the evening concluding around
3:00 am.
Our
own Nolan Dalla's tournament write-ups
and Mark Napolitano's videos are posted
to Pokerpages almost immediately after
the conclusion of each tournament thanks
in part to the Gold Strikes T1 hook up.
Thanks you two. Your efforts are greatly
appreciated.
Our
$10,000 Championship Event has as of 1:30
am Jan 19th a total of 56 entries. Prize
pool is a lock to go over 3 million and
could potentially reach 4 million. Dreamsource
Productions will be filming it. Everyone's
welcome to come watch this event which
starts at noon Wednesday the 23rd. The
four day long event will conclude with
the final table starting at noon on Saturday
the 26th. Maybe you'll see yourself in
the audience when the show airs later
this year. Or maybe, just maybe, you'll
win a super or a single table satellite
and reach the final table. Nice thought
that is, no? Just ask Brian Moore about
last years event.
Notables
already entered to the final event are
TJ Cloutier, Allen Cunningham, Ken Flayton,
Perry Green, Phillip Ivey, Berry Johnston,
John Juanda, Kathy Liebert, Daniel Negreanu,
Erik Seidel, Harry Thomas Jr., Dewey Tomko,
and Dr Bruce Van Horn. Others, I'm sure,
will soon follow. Doyle Brunson is here
to add to the grandeur of this spectacular
event.
It's
the World Poker Open, a joint venture
of the Horseshoe and Gold Strike in Tunica,
Mississippi. Mark my words. This tournament
in a year or two will be the number one
tournament in the world. And some players
say, it already is.
Gary (G-man) Philips
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