2007 World Series of Poker


The 2007 World Series of Poker began on June 1, 2007. The $10,000 no-limit Texas hold 'em Main Event began on July 6 and was completed on the morning of July 18. All events were held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada by Harrah's Entertainment, which has run the annual event since its purchase from the Binion family in 2004.
For the first time players began each event with double the amount of chips as the buy-in. This means that players in the Main Event started with 20,000 chips. The blind structure has also been increased and some blind levels removed but slowed to allow for more play.
In addition to the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, which was first played at the 2006 World Series of Poker, this year there were two additional H.O.R.S.E. events with lower buy-ins.
Tom Schneider, who won two events and made one other final table, won the Player of the Year Award. Michael Binger and Chad Brown led all other players with eight money finishes.
The annual celebrity event was changed this year, as it became a pro and celeb event called "Ante Up for Africa", hosted by actor Don Cheadle and poker pro Annie Duke. The final two players, Dan Shak and Brandon Moran, agreed to share first place and donate all prize money to charities in Darfur.
The last woman standing of the 2007 Main Event was Maria Ho who finished in 38th place.
Also this year, KEM Plastic Playing Cards were once again used for the events, rather than Copag brand plastic playing cards, which were used during the 2005 and 2006 World Series of Poker.

Event schedule

Event
Number		EventWinnerPrizeRunner-upResults
1$5,000 World Championship Mixed Hold'emSteve Billirakis$536,287Greg MuellerResults
2$500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'emFrederick Narciso$104,701Charles FisherResults
3$1,500 No Limit Hold'emCiaran O'Leary$727,012Paul EvansResults
4$1,500 Pot Limit Hold'emMike Spegal$252,290Gavin SmithResults
5$2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or BetterTom Schneider$214,347Ed TonnellierResults
6$1,500 Limit Hold'emGary Styczynski$280,715Varouzhan GumroyanResults
7$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha w/RebuysBurt Boutin$868,745Erik CajelaisResults
8$1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/RebuysMichael Chu$585,744Tommy VuResults
9$1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split 8 or BetterAlex Kravchenko$228,446Bryan DevonshireResults
10$2,000 No Limit Hold'emWill Durkee$566,916Todd TerryResults
11$5,000 World Championship Seven Card StudChris Reslock$258,453Phil IveyResults
12$1,500 No Limit Hold'em Short HandedJason Warner$481,698David ZeitlinResults
13$5,000 World Championship Pot Limit Hold'emAllen Cunningham$487,287Jeffrey LisandroResults
14$1,500 Seven Card StudMichael Keiner$146,987Nesbitt CoburnResults
15$1,500 No Limit Hold'emPhil Hellmuth$637,254Andy PhilachackResults
16$2,500 H.O.R.S.E.James Richburg$239,503Walter BrowneResults
17$1,000 World Championship Ladies No Limit Hold'emSally Boyer$262,077Anne HeftResults
18$5,000 World Championship Limit Hold'emSaro Getzoyan$333,379Geoff SanfordResults
19$2,500 No Limit Hold'emFrancois Safieddine$521,785John PhanResults
20$2,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or BetterRyan Hughes$176,358Min LeeResults
21$1,500 No Limit Hold'em ShootoutDon Baruch$264,107Jared DavisResults
22$5,000 No Limit Hold'emJames Mackey$730,740Stuart FoxResults
23$1,500 Pot Limit OmahaScott Clements$194,206Eric LynchResults
24$3,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Split 8 or BetterEli Elezra$198,984Scotty NguyenResults
25$2,000 No Limit Hold'emBen Ponzio$599,467David HewittResults
26$5,000 H.O.R.S.E.Ralph Schwartz$275,683Bill GazesResults
27$1,500 No Limit Hold'emDavid Stucke$603,069Young ChoResults
28$3,000 No Limit Hold'emShankar Pillai$527,829Beth ShakResults
29$1,500 Seven Card RazzKatja Thater$132,653Larry St. JeanResults
30$2,500 No Limit Hold'em Short HandedHoyt Corkins$515,065Terrence ChanResults
31$5,000 World Championship Heads Up No Limit Hold'emDan Schreiber$425,594Mark MuchnikResults
32$2,000 Seven Card StudJeffrey Lisandro$118,426Nick FrangosResults
33$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/RebuysAlan Smurfit$464,867Qushqar MoradResults
34$3,000 Limit Hold'emAlexander Borteh$225,483Brandon WongResults
35$1,500 No Limit Hold'emRyan Young$615,955Dustin DirksenResults
36$5,000 World Championship Omaha Hi/Lo Split 8 or BetterJohn Guth$363,216Robert StevanovskiResults
37$2,000 Pot Limit Hold'emGreg Hopkins$269,274Jason NewburgerResults
38$1,500 No Limit Hold'emRobert Cheung$673,628Richard MurnickResults
39$50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E.Freddy Deeb$2,276,832Bruno FitoussiResults
40$1,500 Mixed Hold'emFred Goldberg$204,935Rene MouritsenResults
41$1,000 World Championship Seniors No Limit Hold'emErnest Bennett$348,423Tony KorfmanResults
42$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split 8 or BetterLukasz Dumanski$227,454David BachResults
43$2,000 Limit Hold'emSaif Ahmad$217,329William JensenResults
44$2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo SplitFrankie O'Dell$240,057Thang LuuResults
45$5,000 No Limit Hold'em Short HandedBill Edler$904,672Alex BolotinResults
46$1,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or BetterTom Schneider$147,713Hoyt VernerResults
47$2,000 No Limit Hold'emBlair Rodman$707,898Amato GalassoResults
48$1,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball w/RebuysRafi Amit$227,005Lenny MartinResults
49$1,500 No Limit Hold'emChandrasekhar Billavara$722,914Taylor DouglasResults
50$10,000 World Championship Pot Limit OmahaRobert Mizrachi$768,889Rene MouritsenResults
51$1,000 S.H.O.E.Dao Bac$157,975Adam GeyerResults
52$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em w/RebuysMichael Graves$742,121Theo TranResults
53$1,500 Limit Hold'em ShootoutRam Vaswani$217,438Andy WardResults
54$5,000 World Championship 2-7 Draw Lowball w/RebuysErik Seidel$538,835Chad BrownResults
55$10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em Main EventJerry Yang$8,250,000Tuan LamResults

2007 records

The $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event began on July 6 with the first of four separate starting days. 6,358 players entered, 2,415 fewer than in 2006. This is the first time since 1992 that the Main Event experienced a reduction in participants. As the total number of registrants for the 2007 WSOP set a record at 54,288 with a total prize pool of $159,796,918, the decrease in the number of participants in the Main Event has been attributed to a recent law that limits Internet gambling. As a result of this law, Harrah's did not allow online poker websites to directly purchase Main Event seats and offer them as prizes, if the sites conducted business with US citizens. Online entries to the Main Event that were won as prizes on Internet poker sites were a substantial contributor to the dramatic growth the Main Event seen in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. The reduced field also meant a nearly one-third reduction in the Main Event's grand prize, from the record $12 million in 2006 to $8.25 million.
A flatter payout structure was introduced in 2007 further reducing the prize money awarded to the final table finishers. Players who busted early in the money received a larger share than they would have in 2006. The lowest payouts in 2007 were $20,320, as compared to $14,597 in 2006. Every player who made the final table in 2006 won over 1.5 million dollars.
A minor controversy arose during the main event. The colors of the chips made it very difficult to differentiate between the chip values. Pokernews.com posted the following note on its live reporting log, "It has literally been impossible for us to count these players' stacks due to the positioning of the cameras and the incredibly similar colors of the various chip denominations." Pokernews also reported that the chip color has affected play, "Because of the similarly-colored chips it took the dealer some time to count down Kluber's stack, and not long after Rahme began thinking about his response Kluber called the clock on him." Other players have complained that they can't count their opponents stacks and fear asking for a chip count as speaking may reveal the strength of their hand.

Final table

PlaceNamePrize
1stJerry Yang$8,250,000
2ndTuan Lam$4,840,981
3rdRaymond Rahme$3,048,025
4thAlex Kravchenko$1,852,721
5thJon Kalmar$1,255,069
6thHevad Khan$956,243
7thLee Childs$705,229
8thLee Watkinson$585,699
9thPhilip Hilm$525,934

Other notable high finishes

NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.
PlaceNamePrize
11thScotty Nguyen$476,926
16thKenny Tran$381,302
23rdBill Edler$333,490
25thDaniel Alaei$333,490
26thRoy Winston$333,490

Performance of past World Champions

NameYear Event ChampionEliminated
In the Money PlacePrize
Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston19721
Doyle Brunson1976 and 19771
Bobby Baldwin19782
Tom McEvoy19832
Berry Johnston19864113th$58,570
Johnny Chan1987 and 19881
Phil Hellmuth19891
Brad Daugherty19911
Jim Bechtel19932
Dan Harrington19952
Huck Seed1996573rd$130,288
Scotty Nguyen1998611th$476,926
Chris Ferguson20003
Carlos Mortensen20014217th$51,398
Robert Varkonyi20024177th$51,398
Chris Moneymaker20032
Greg Raymer20041
Joe Hachem20052
Jamie Gold20061

Celebrities in the 2007 Main Event

Under the leadership of WSOP commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack, the World Series of Poker Europe is the first expansion of the World Series of Poker. In September 2007, the first WSOP championship events outside of Las Vegas took place in London. It was the first time that WSOP bracelets were awarded outside of Las Vegas. Three tournaments were held, with the main event being a £10,000 buy-in no-limit hold 'em tournament. The main event was won by Norwegian online prodigy Annette Obrestad, who won on the day before her 19th birthday and became the youngest person ever to win a WSOP bracelet.